#waiting to flesh that out more until I have a playthrough where I actually manage to complete both trouble on the cape and

[bees-tes-blog]

Wokestone here. :) Arisen #1, Arisen #3, Arisen&Pawn #14, World&Story #5

questions from here!

Arisen - Whether they remember or not, where are they from?

dd2 jesse grew up by the sea under the harve village chief(at the time)'s roof—his birth parents died when he was too young to remember them. when he was barely an adult, the man who raised him died one night protecting the village from a monster raid. it was eventually decided that jonas—the current chief—would take his place. naturally, tensions were high for a very long while between the son of the chief and the piece of work that replaced him, and it was no one's surprise when jesse, still grieving, ignored orders for the last time and was banished. he ended up in melve where he befriended ulrika and in time decided to stay, though it didn't last long. and you know the rest.

Arisen - Do they ever get their memory back; if they do, does that change how they interact with the narrative, and if they don’t how do they feel about that loss?

jesse begins to piece together what little he can of his history guided by his instincts and the rare clue he picks up, but he gets his memory back. rather unfortunate, since finding a way to restore what was taken from him is his main motivation for pursuing disa's plot in the beginning. its loss troubles him deeply, especially at first—with no memories, no heartbeat, only an inexplicable drive towards something he can't yet identify, he's barely more than a puppet.

Arisen & Pawn - What do they bond most over?

for both jesse, who often suffers the consequences of being more blunt than he means to, and mati, who's usually preoccupied with the expectations he places on himself as a pawn, sharing a bond where they both feel free to speak openly is a relief. when they're more comfortable with each other mati becomes one of the few people jesse can truly rely on and be candid about the weight of his charge with. jesse is the only one mati ever begins to drop the formalities around. mati gets used to the idea that he can ramble about whatever topic's grabbed his interest and jesse will be glad to listen, and he won't be punished for his private little gibes about interesting individuals they've met. they're kind of little haters together.

World & Story - What does the ending and its aftermath look like for them? 

this is something I'm still pondering myself, but I've spoken about it a little here and there, so this is a good opportunity to put the bits and pieces in one place. my take is that with the help of his pawn, jesse succeeds in killing PF for good, freeing the world of their influence. but as he plummets to the bottom of the sea, through his will he chooses to continue the cycle and go through it all again (albeit without PF's interference) just to allow his world and the people in it to persist. he's come to love the world "too much to leave it behind" : ) mati returns to the rift to regenerate his proper form and wait patiently for his master's call, something inside him knowing jesse is not gone. but when he is resummoned, the arisen before him remembers nothing of their bond, nor the journeys they shared, nor the sacrifices they both made. jesse can't understand right away what comes over him when it's time to select his pawn. but as they begin to rebuild their bond, he gets the feeling this familiar stranger really means it when he says they've been here before. and mati will wait for him to remember their past lives no matter how long it takes. they're in a purgatory of sorts—one of their own choosing—but in every cycle they experience, the people they care about get to keep living their lives and they get to stay at each other's side. they'll keep choosing it every time.

[cinnamonest]

Lupophobia

Yandere "Escape Attempt" prompt - Razor

-------------------- Words: 8,944 Warnings:-fem reader, attempted noncon beastiality (none actually happens), yandere/captivity, noncon, biting, breeding, brief gendered themes/tones involving animal mating. Heavily inspired by my degrees of lewdity "deviant"/beastiality playthrough. I applied things I learned in college linguistics for this. Truly putting my education to a good purpose. --------------------- The fortunate thing about animals, and their adjacents, was that they were very easy to deceive, and no matter what, they would fall for the same trick, time and time again. "You see it girl? You want it?" You grimaced at the slimy texture on your fingers, wiggling the fatty slab in your grip and swallowing the sickness that came from looking at it. Out of, you supposed, ingrained social habits, you gave an awkward smile as you wiggled the meat. In contrast, the wolf had the opposite reaction, her ears immediately perked up, and she leaped into a playful position, front half low to the ground as her tail stuck up, and a low whine escaped her throat, eyes fixated on the meat. Yes, unlike with people, who had a greater capacity for pattern recognition and learning, who followed the fool me once, fool me twice mantra, you could count on animals to be easily deceived over and over without having to change the way you deceived them. This was far from the first time you had pulled this exact move, nor was it difficult to do -- you merely waited for a spare moment to rip out a chunk of the meat and hid it away for a little while while the rest of the pack was not looking, too absorbed in their own gorging to even cast a glance in your direction. "You want it...?" You repeated, wiggling the slab again in front of the wolf's eyes. Drool spilled out of the side of her mouth between her sharp, glistening teeth, and she let out another whine.

This was not the first time this trick had worked. This was not the first time you'd managed to steal and hide a hunk of meat away while the animals gorged themselves on the remains of whatever poor creature fell victim to them. Hell, this wasn't even the first time that this specific trick had worked on this specific individual wolf. You'd come to recognize each of them with time, even assigned them little names in your head by identifiers. She was a mother, one of the wolves that remained behind at the little den while the others went out for hunting, leaving only the nursing females, the smallest pups, and, well, yourself. Albeit in a weakened state in nursing, they were still easily capable of overpowering you, and, through means you honestly did not understand, they somehow knew they were supposed to prevent you from leaving. Even when you stood up, one or more of them would immediately pick their heads up, ears falling flat and even letting out the softest of warning growls.

She whined in front of you, eyes fixated on the slab. You wiggled it again. It was an easy deceit to pull off. "You want it... then go... get it!"

You hurled the hunk of red flesh as far as your arms could manage, and, exactly per plan, the she-wolf immediately bolted in the direction of the throw. And likewise, you turned on your heel and began the now-routine dash in the opposite direction -- the direction of human civilization. That had been the easy part.

It was the rest of the way that would be difficult. This time of day was the only opportunity you had to pull this whole thing off, but the sun was quickly setting, and unlike the wolves, you were not exactly gifted with night vision. You likened the route to an obstacle course, a puzzle -- repeated actions that became muscle memory. The first few times, you'd merely stumbled around in the woods for a few minutes. With each successive attempt, you retained more knowledge of the path, could clear a longer distance in increasingly shorter times, memorized landmarks, remembered little helpful actions and hindrances, and with each successive attempt, you found yourself making it closer and closer to the end of the woods than the time before. There wasn't much else to go by, so you used trees that stood out to you. The huge tree with the hollowed out hole in the center was the first landmark -- go right. The tree that had an oddly-angled branch came next. So on and so on. You measured success by how many of said landmarks you could pass in time, striving to make each a longer and longer venture every time. Just when despair had been finally getting the better of you, the last attempt had had you finding a footpath used by the Springvale hunters, and that meant you were close. If you could just find that again -- there. To say flat ground was a welcome feeling to your bare feet was an understatement. The slimy dirt texture of the forest floor and prickly leaves and pine needles was not a pleasant sensation. Nonetheless, there was no time to savor it or anything, soon, soon, you'd walk on paved streets, and floors, and, and... You stopped for a mere moment, panting, desperately taking in deep breaths to soothe the exhaustion burning in your chest. You darted your head from side to side. There was no sign of anything coming your way. No footsteps or growls in the distance behind you. You felt your heart pounding in your chest, as much from physical exertion as it was from a blooming, disbelieving excitement. I might actually make it.  Your legs felt weak at the prospect, and you steadied your stumbling against a tree. You were certain you'd never made it this far before. It was difficult to process, almost surreal. After so, so, so many times, over the course of months and months, you were so used to being stopped by this point that your brain half-expected it at any moment. You'd really reached a point at which the escape attempts were almost done with a knowing futility, you no longer really had much hope when setting out, merely running on principle and the faint chance that was now so real. You could be stopped any moment. And yet, after a few more breaths, nothing happened. You shook your head to clear the dizziness, taking a deep breath and squinting forward in the twilight. You nearly felt your heart stop when you processed a shape in the distance -- a building. Springvale. It was distant and downhill, but visible. Right there within your reach, and all you had to do was go to it, so you steadied your breath and took off as fast as-- The world suddenly spun around you as something snatched at your ankle. Your shriek echoed off the trees, reverberating until it grew silent. A clanging of metallic sounds accompanied it, rattling hollowed objects triggered into motion. Everything began to settle, the sudden flooding of stimuli to your eyes and the feeling of sudden movement both slowing to a gentle sway. You were unbreathing, unblinking, heart pounding as your vision spun and, in a panicked haze, you desperately darted your eyes and head each way, struggling to process your senses. Your head felt suddenly tight and tense, your upper half heavy, and a burning pain wrapped around your ankle. Everything was... upside down. You looked down -- no, up -- at your feet. One was bent at the knee, falling in the direction of gravity towards your head, the other was extended perfectly straight, tense and unable to move. A cord was snagged around your ankle, a perfect tightened knot that wrapped around the flesh. You looked up -- no, again, down -- at the ground. Nausea lurched in your stomach as you did, seeing the forest floor a good drop below. You took a moment to process. You followed the trail of the rope from where it tugged painfully at your ankle, followed it to the branch it looped over, and down the trunk to the base of the tree, where it was securely tied around a knotted root. The metallic sound had come from what appeared to be collected garbage, metal scraps, a glass bottle or two, and some metal tools and cans all tied up in a net and secured to the spot where the rope met the branch, an alert that the trap had been set off. Your mouth hung open, you blinked over and over, before finally, bitter anger burst in your chest. "Ghhhhh!" You let out a frustrated, furious cry, thrashing wildly and pulling at your scalp. You kicked and struggled, but only succeeded in making yourself swing, making the nausea and dizziness worse. A trap. Of course. The furthest you've ever gotten, and you were stopped by a fucking hunting trap. Damn those Springvale hunters for coming this far out into the woods. It could be worse, you tried to console yourself. It could have been a bear trap, which would have more or less destroyed your leg, possibly taken it clean off. But nonetheless, misery and frustration bubbled up in your chest as you swung back and forth, slowing down to stillness. You'd never made it this close to town before. You could see the road as well, albeit just barely, a few hundred yards in the distance. You could make out where the dirt path became gravel in the distance, upside-down in the last light of the quickly-setting sun, and, as tears filled your eyes, you reached a hand out to it, miserably grasping your hand shut before letting your arm fall. It was so, so close! Now you were trapped, stuck here in this miserable, humiliating predicament, and you'd have to wait to be saved, and inevitably dragged back the way you'd come. You thrashed again, trying and failing to curl your body up and reach your foot. Your fingers just barely grazed the knot of the rope, but even if you could reach it, it was designed for your body weight to hold the knot in place to begin with. You let out a shaky sigh and a small sob, tears dripping directly out of your eyes and falling downward with gravity. You wiped your eyes, and a thought made a bit of nervous, daring hope light up in your chest. You were close to Springvale, right? Maybe you could be heard. This trap was set by the Springvale hunters themselves, right? You'd seen these types before, a snare that, when tripped, released on one side and whipped around the center of the force that tripped the rope, forming a perfect, tight knot around the ankle of the prey before hauling it upwards by use of weight. You took a deep breath and cupped your hands around your mouth. "Help!" You called out, straining out the vowel as long as you could, before inhaling a ragged breath and repeating the action. As the echoes quieted, you waited, but nothing happened. You wriggled and writhed, but only succeeded in making the net of metal rattle. You supposed it helped the hunters hear animals struggling, and led them to the source. But the hunters wouldn't be back out until tomorrow, you couldn't afford to wait for them to come rescue you on their own. You waited a moment, trying again and again to yell. The Springvale hunters, a traveler on the road, hell, you'd accept help from treasure hoarders if they hung out in this part of the wilderness. Anyone, anyone human. Well, except one, preferably, but still. Any other human being. You couldn't even remember the last human interaction you'd had. At least, a fully human interaction, without any licks or whines or growls or other canid behaviors you'd become far too accustomed to. But nobody came. You waited. Tried again. And again. And again. No response. Your head was beginning to pound and throb. You'd black out if you stayed like this much longer, and you were pretty certain it could even kill you. But nothing was responding to your cries for help. You wracked your brain in panic for a solution. An idea popped into your head. You'd seen Razor do it before, and the wolves responded to him even though he produced the sound with a human voice, so maybe you too could... It was embarrassing, but worth a try. You didn't exactly have many options. You jerked your bodyweight in the other direction, making yourself turn to face the woods in the direction you'd come from instead of Springvale. You reached your quickly-numbing arms up and cupped your hands around your mouth, forming your lips into an "o" shape, and, well, swallowed your pride. You didn't have any better ideas. "Awooooo--" You tried to mimic the howls you'd heard so many times as accurately as you could manage, but it came out a bit strained and comical. You waited a moment, and, receiving no response, whimpered in your desperation and tried a second time. Your voice echoed throughout the trees. You weren't certain exactly how it worked, you were pretty certain they had different tones they used, some for aggression, some as a cry of distress, but you weren't capable of telling them apart. You could only hope for the best. It wasn't really as if they could help you, but at the very least, they would probably go find Razor for you. They'd done so before, after another humiliating failure when you'd fallen into a hole in the earth during a past attempt. You'd learned they were far more intelligent than you once thought, and they understood things like that, at least. But gods, did this make you feel dumb. Your face heated with embarrassment with each attempt. You inhaled to try a third time, but as you did, a shrill howl pierced the air from a distance. A response. Your heartrate picked up as a little spark of relief and hope -- albeit dread that lurked in the back of your head -- made you shudder. You howled again, and received a second response. It carried on for a few minutes that way, sounding back and forth, and it sounded like the other was getting closer. Finally, you heard steps, and anticipation swelled in your chest. You were pretty sure that the response howls had been that of an actual wolf -- even you, in your time in these woods, had learned to tell the difference between Razor's vocalizations and that of the wolves. There were simply some aspects of the canid sounds that human vocal chords could only mimic, but not recreate to a perfect likeness, and thus his vocalizations were a bit distinct. Still, you could be wrong, or, even better, perhaps the footsteps coming close to you weren't an animal at all, but perhaps a different figure, maybe a hunter...? No, that was definitely a four-legged gait. That, too, was something you had learned to tell apart, a two-legged gait versus a four-legged one. It kind of came in handy when you were trying to to hide or run and needed to gauge exactly what was hunting you down. You craned your neck to the best of your ability in the direction of the sound. A creature emerged from the trees. You took a sharp breath. ...It was merely a very large, brownish-greyish wolf. It gazed up at you with big black eyes and ears perked up in alertness. You squinted. You'd never seen this wolf before. You were fairly certain of this much; during your time in the woods, you'd learned to distinguish between them pretty well. You learned the little differences -- this one was bigger, this one had a scratch on its ear, this one had a scar on its hip, this one was more brown and this one was more grey, and so on it went. This one was different from all the wolves you'd become familiar with. The wolf sat down, tilting its head at you, tongue lolling out as it panted. It was huge, muscular looking. "Help," you whimpered. As aware as you were that it obviously did not understand, you couldn't think of anything else to do. You flailed a bit in your desperation, and pointed towards the spot where the rope was tied to the tree. "Help me... Come on, please..." The wolf actually followed the line of your pointing, eyes settling on the base of the trap. And, miraculously, moved towards it. Your heart pounded. Did it actually understand? Would it help? It walked over and bit at the rope, shaking its head rapidly in the same way you'd witnessed the wolves kill small prey, or how dogs played with toys. It was helping! You shuddered again, hope burning in your chest, and a tear of relief dripping from your eyes upside-down to the ground below. And if this wolf wasn't from the pack, it wouldn't take you back, right? How, you weren't certain, but the other wolves seemed to understand the... arrangement going on. Many of your escape attempts had been thwarted not by your captor himself, but by the pack -- surrounding you in a circle, barking and growling and snapping at you until you were forced to turn back, even tackling you as you ran, biting your clothes and arms to drag you back. But this wolf would let you go, right? .... Wait a second. Cold dread suddenly made your stomach lurch. This wolf had no reason to help you, and no reason to drag you back. It had every reason to see you as easy prey. Any relief or hope you'd felt was immediately replaced with a chilling rush of panic. Yes, you would be easy prey, right there for the taking. You thrashed about, trying again to reach up and loosen the knot on your foot, but failing. Fuck. You were trapped between two unpleasant options. There was a chance the wolf was just helping, but in the end, it was an animal, not a person, with instincts of goodwill or benevolence. It would follow its instincts. Once you hit the ground, you'd have to run. That was the only solution. But... it also occurred to you only then that you were hanging a good fifteen feet or so in the air. Upside down. What if the fall knocked you out? Hell, what if it broke your legs? What if it broke your spine? If it were Razor himself, he'd lower you down slowly, but the wolf lacked the sense  or ability to do so. You'd just drop. Fuck, fuck, fuck. There was a thick coating of leaves on the ground, which would hopefully help, and this part of the forest had soft, clay-like ground rather than hard rock, but nonetheless, it was a long drop. Dammit! Your body wracked with a sob of frustration, anger, and panic. Why did all of this have to happen to you? You'd asked yourself that that plenty of times. You didn't do anything to deserve-- There was a snapping sound. You shrieked as gravity immediately sent you crashing down, world spinning around you, and you collided with the earth with crash that took the breath from your lungs; the sound flooded your ears, echoed as your head went numb. You landed directly on your back, eyes looking up at the trees and the sky beyond then as the world spun around you and your vision darkened. Pain ran through your body on impact, a rough, blunt sort of pain that ached through your flesh and meat and bones. You groaned in pain, teeth clenched as it flooded your senses, trembling as it slowly began to ebb away after the initial blow. The wolf's face popping into your vision sent you jolting back to awareness. It was startling, it's cold wet nose pressing against your own, and after a moment, it lapped its tongue against your face. Panic seized your entire body, and you were frozen, unable to move, not even breathing, eyes wide in terror. And then it licked you again, letting out a soft, tender whine. It was being friendly. You let out a shuddering sigh as relief washed over you again, and you thanked whatever god was looking out for you for granting you your life. "Th-thank you," you murmured, reaching a trembling hand up to pat the wolf's head, wincing at the soreness in your arm. It whined again, bumping its head against yours. Wolves were far, far larger than you were certain most people realized. Back home, you'd always thought that the howls you heard at night from within the safety of Mondstadt's walls were from creatures no bigger than the large hunting dogs you'd seen in Springvale. In reality, that was not the case. Even the smallest of the wolves were massive in comparison to those dogs, their heads easily twice the size of your own. You'd been utterly terrified of them in the beginning, bursting into frightened tears whenever one made its way over to sniff you in their curiosity, or dump an offering of a small creature's carcass at your feet in a show of friendliness (an unsettling experience, no matter how many time you were told it's good, 'cause they like (y/n)), or lick your face in an attempt to show affection. You'd grown used to it with time. But this wolf was even larger than the majority you'd seen, easily thrice your size in every capacity. Likely a loner separated from its pack. You were aware there were sometimes conflicts between the larger, stronger pack males that ultimately ended in the loser leaving the pack and heading off on its own, although it seemed nearly incomprehensible that a wolf of this size would lose to anything. Had it chosen the route of violence, you wouldn't have stood a chance. You laid there for a moment, head spinning as you took deep, shaky breaths, trying to calm yourself down and regain your sense of control over your body. You curled your fingers and toes, flexed the muscles in your arms and legs. You were a bit scraped up and your entire body still ached from the impact, but miraculously, nothing seemed broken. You closed your eyes, feeling the cool evening breeze and the wet tongue that was repeatedly lapping at your face. Finally, after a moment, with a groan at the ache in your body, you pushed yourself upward with your elbows, flipping over to your hands and knees, pulling your leg forward to stand-- The breath was knocked out of you yet again as a massive weight crashed down onto your body. You clawed at the ground, gasping to regain oxygen, body going tense. "Wh-what-" The creature let his bodyweight fall down on your frame, and you grunted as your upper half slammed into the ground. It rendered you entirely immobile, this wolf was both massive and heavy, you could barely breathe under the sheer mass of its body. You struggled to push yourself back up onto your elbows. "H-hey, what are you--" With a whine, it rutted its hips forward. Oh, fuck. "N-no!" You tried to rear up, pushing your upper half upward on your elbows as hard as you could, to no avail. Its weight was crushing. "B-bad! Bad dog! Stop!" You clawed at the dirt, gasping as it thrust again. "Get off!" It only let out the same high, throaty whine, thrusting its hips several times in quick succession, humping your ass with desperation. You could feel its blunt-ended cock digging into the flesh, making your blood run cold. When it rutted forward, the motion hiked your ragged little dress up, bunching up the fabric and exposing your cunt. You whimpered with fear, desperately trying to drag yourself forward. "Stop, stop, get off!" You thrashed again, achieving nothing by the action. The worst part, the dread that was quickly overtaking your thoughts, was that you knew it was futile. You'd learned a long time ago that your resistance would mean nothing, not by the brutal laws of the world outside of the fragile sense of safety human society provided. It was expected. It happened among the wolves themselves all the time -- the mates were not something that were chosen in the same way humans did. Too many times you'd witnessed the ritual -- the males would fight, snarling and growling and lunging at each other until one would give up and run scurrying away, tail tucked between its legs. Growing up with all the knowledge you'd learned from books and what humans generally observed of the animals, you'd always assumed that from that point, the she-wolves would then gladly and willingly copulate with the victor, but, you'd quickly learned, that was not the case. It had shocked you the first few times, your eyes widening and your mouth dropping open as you witnessed the poor females get tackled, mounted, their whimpers as teeth sank into their shoulders and kept them in place. It was brutal, and yet, you'd come to understand and accept it was simply the way things were. Perhaps the part that had shocked you the most was how accepted it was -- the other wolves would simply look on, adjusted to what was normal among them, and the brutalized female would, from that point on, act as a normal mate to what more or less was originally her assailant -- licking and grooming each other, sleeping next to one another, spending time with each other, all as if such a thing made sense. Given the acceptant, compliant state you sometimes found yourself slipping into, you supposed you weren't too different in that way. Because they're strong, you'd been told. Beating the other male and forcibly mating the female herself signified strength. They were supposed to try to run and fight, and the male was supposed to forcibly overpower them, a display of strength, of suitableness as a partner. That was why fighting back didn't matter -- it was supposed to be that way, in the minds of the animals, and thus they were content with that setup. The present moment was anything but content. Another rut of the wolf's hips brought you snapping out of your brief thought, back to the moment at hand. The forest was quiet aside from your own struggling, the last rays of light were fading from the sky, the moon hanging high in place of their light. You let out a shrill, squeaking cry, thrashing with renewed effort, but, predictably, not even budging. "Get off! Get off me! Stop it, bad dog!" No matter how you tried, you couldn't move your body in the slightest, perfectly pinned still. "Fuck..." It let out another whine, not even seeming to notice your struggles, grasping at your shoulder with its teeth, and you feared that if it bit down, it might shatter your shoulder. It rutted forward, and this time you froze, entire body going tense as the blunt head of its cock pressed firmly against your exposed slit. You finally managed to claw at the leaf-covered ground enough to pull yourself forward, if but just an inch -- and the wolf, snarling, thrust its own body forward to push you back into the same position. One of its front paws reached forward and clawed onto your shoulder, and you squealed as it pulled you back, forming a tiny cut in the flesh of your jugular. Your began to nearly hyperventilate, trembling, breaths shallow and quick. "S-stop..." Your plea was defeatedly quiet, realizing that further protest would only hurt you. Tears gathered in your eyes. Your back was bent at an angle under the sheer weight of the furry mass that kept you pinned, and it felt like your very lungs were crushed, breathing quickly becoming difficult. You began to feel your body tingling with numbness. It was so heavy and difficult to breathe you weren't certain you'd even survive if it fucked you. Panic seized your brain, overriding any coherent thought. There was a snarling, growling sort of noise that cut through the surrounding stillness. It wasn't coming from the creature mounted on your body. It didn't sound canid. It was human. Much like the howls, you had learned, with time, how to distinguish between the real and the imitation, those sounds that, no matter how long of a lifetime of practice one had, could simply not match the vocals of another species. The wolf stopped its motions, turning its head, and likewise immediately transitioned its entire demeanor, tensing up and returning the sound, a low snarl, baring its teeth as its snout wrinkled up. It dismounted your body and lowered itself to the ground, hips and shoulders raised as its core sank low, a preparatory stance ready to lunge. You fell forward, face crashing into the leaves, before scrambling upwards and falling back on your ass, propped up with your hands behind you and your knees bent as you froze, unable to move a muscle, eyes open wide and gasping for breath as air burned in your lungs. You could see red-orange eyes glaring in the moonlight from a short distance, and for once, the face of the wolf-boy made a wave of relief come crashing down, rather than panic at being found. He made another low sound in his throat, a snarling growl. His shoulders hunched up in a similar motion to the wolf, baring his teeth, glare locked on the transgressor. He didn't have a weapon on him, so his hands clenched into fists at his side. You'd witnessed this plenty of times in the past by now, but never before with him as one of the participants. The other male wolves within the pack hadn't exactly taken an interest in you, rather, simultaneously accepted you as one of their own, while seeming to recognize you as something of an "other," as they did him. Among them, though, these conflicts were regularly occurring, a constantly shifting hierarchal dynamic that was weighted in blood and pure brute strength. Your heartrate picked up anew. Strong as Razor may be, this thing was massive. And he didn't have his claymore, you remembered he'd left it near the den earlier, before going on his daily routine to check the various animal traps. This wolf could kill him. And given that it wasn't a pack member, it wouldn't hesitate to do so. The wolf took a few heavy steps forward, growling all the while, and the wolf-boy reciprocated the action, a deep low growl in his throat as he stomped forward, fingers curling into a claw-like shape, not exhibiting so much as the slightest hesitation to show aggression against the massive creature. You tried to stand on your shaking legs, but fell on your ass again. "W-wait, no, r-run," you stammered, words spewing out of your mouth before you could process them, "he'll hurt you--" Your vision went white, bright light exploded all around, a crashing, booming sort of sound cutting off your words. There was a heat to it that you could feel on your skin, but it blinded your vision, leaving you blinking as, in a mere moment, the electric energy faded to a purplish glow that sparked with a buzz in the palm of his hand. The wolf leaped back in terrified shock, immediately flattening its ears, turning and tucking its tail between its legs, scrambling with fear into the darkness of the trees. And just like that, the threat was gone. You were left slack-jawed, mouth hanging open, trembling and panting as you watched it disappear, footsteps growing quieter and quieter until they could no longer be heard. Instead, the leaves to your side crunched in a two-legged pattern as the figure drew closer, and then dropped down to his knees to get on a face-to-face level. You turned your head and your eyes met. His eyes were wide and pupils blown even wider, mouth slightly open, looking you over. His eyes had always had a softness to them, full of light. After a moment, he reached up, slowly, and wiped the tears from your eyes, a soft, unthinking gesture, and leaned forward. He nuzzled his face against yours, and, after a moment, licked a few quick, short laps up the side of your face. It was nothing you weren't very well used to, and you merely sat numbly as he did so. His eyes trailed downward, widening as they met the gash that had been created on your neck by the massive wolf's claws, and he leaned forward again, lapping at your skin. You inhaled a sharp breath at the sting of his tongue on the wound, but you knew it actually was helpful in terms of clotting, so you didn't resist. You sat like that for a moment, silent, still, letting him clean up the wound, saliva naturally helping the healing process. It was bizarrely intimate in its own way, but it certainly wasn't the first time he'd helped in that way with a wound. It stopped stinging after a moment, blood clotting under the wet warmth. He pulled his head back, looking over you again as if to ascertain your unharmed state, eyes wide and expression flat, looking directly at your face - your weary face, trembling lip, expression still uneasy from the remaining shock. "You... Okay?" There was a softness to his face, a wide-eyed look of innocent concern. You did your best to nod. Any hope you'd had left had been crushed at some point in the adrenaline of the encounter, and thus, all chances of escaping gone, defeat and weariness washed over your body, and you slumped forward in exhaustion. Of course, he was unaware of and most likely did not even consider why you suddenly fell against him, he tended to take any action you made at face value and accepted it as simply what it was, and likewise, every action he made was easily interpreted the same way. It was, you sometimes consoled yourself, a rather welcome simplicity in contrast to the hidden and subtle meanings that humans often portrayed through their actions, and you never had to worry about an innocent action being misinterpreted maliciously, nor did you worry that your emotions were too transparent in your actions. Instead, he merely seemed pleased by the gesture, eagerly wrapping his arms around your frame and pulling your closer, rubbing his head up and down so the sides of your faces nuzzled together, squeezing you tightly. "I heard you," he said, a cheerful sort of pride in his voice. "Came to help." You swallowed. "Th-thank you..." As much as his sudden appearance crushed any chance you had of reaching Springvale, you couldn't help but feel a genuine relief, even gratitude, for saving you from what would have undoubted been a highly painful and traumatizing experience, if you'd survived the lack of oxygen. Not that you weren't already getting your fair share of traumatizing experiences out here, but, well, none quite like what your experience would have been had he not shown up. After a still, silent moment of embrace, he released you, shifted and stood up, but then suddenly tensed, and his eyes widened with what seemed like surprise, or perhaps realization, mouth opening slightly. His eyes were cast downward, settled on the cord that was still tightly tied around your ankle, and reached down to loosen the knot, slipping it off and tossing the remaining cord to the side. You made a small sound as if to start speaking, but cut off and fell silent, shutting your mouth. And then, as he came back up, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion and processing, mouth slightly open as he looked a bit to one side, then the other, to you, and up to the tree from which you'd hung. The wheels were turning. Finally, after a moment, it seemed to click, his eyes went wide with realization for a split second before he turned his head back towards you and narrowed his eyes in a glare. His "angry" face had always been a bit difficult to take seriously, he had maintained a baby face despite his age, big eyes and soft features making it look like more of a pout than anything, but in time you'd learned the rightful amount of fear to have at seeing it. Your heart sank in your chest. "You ran away again." His voice was a bitter, grumpy mumble. You'd feared that when you noticed the surprising lack of anger up until a few moments ago. That it hadn't yet clicked with him, until now, exactly why you were out here, how you got out here, in the first place. He might have thought the larger wolf had dragged you out here, or, perhaps more likely, it had not crossed his mind at all in the intensity of the previous moments, too focused on conflict and comfort. "I..." You trailed off, trembling. There was a moment of silence. You couldn't exactly argue against it. It was true that he was rather gullible, and would often believe rather ridiculous excuses or explanations that anyone else would never buy, but there were limits to that, and at the present moment, you couldn't think of any excuse that even he would believe. Even if the wolf had come in to drag you away, the she-wolf set to guard you would have made a noise to alert the others, and he knew that. There was a moment of silence, and, not receiving any objection to his claim, he exhaled a frustrated huff through his nostrils. "I'm mad." As nice as it was that you didn't have to worry about being misinterpreted, another pro to your situation was that your captor was easily the most transparent person you'd ever met, bluntly honest, so much so it sometimes worked against him. You were pretty sure he couldn't be indirect or subtle with his words if he tried. Passive-aggressiveness or anything of the sort was foreign. "I'm sorry," you murmured, hoping to ease his anger, but you knew by now those words didn't really hold any meaning to him. He opened his mouth, that same pout on his face, and took a breath as if to speak, but no words came out. He closed his mouth, looking at the ground for a moment, opened again, repeated the process, and again, before roughly shaking his head, head hanging and expression falling to something like irritation and disappointment. With other people, you'd feel more intimidated by silence, silence meant someone was angry and trying to get under your skin. And while he made no attempt to hide being angry, you knew the silence wasn't an intentional passive-aggressive act, but rather, just lacking the proper words. It was a process you went through frequently, and to some degree, you felt bad for him. Having feelings, having complex thoughts, but lacking the knowledge or ability to articulate them, being unable to adequately express what you thought and felt, limited to such simple terms as sad and mad, words that could only convey incredibly simple feelings... you could only imagine how frustrating that would be. He knew that those words weren't enough, but didn't have any other ones to use. You understood why, then, he grunted in frustration, kicking at the ground, sending a few leaves scattering. But you also knew that if he could not express himself with words, actions would have to suffice. You knew better than to expect any different. This routine, despite its variances in the specifics of how the events went down, went like clockwork from this point onward, the moment of defeat. They say humans are, after all, creatures of habit. You nonetheless let out a little surprised sound at the suddenness with which you were lifted by the armpits, quickly moved a few steps to the side and unceremoniously pushed forward, facing one of the many boulders that dotted the forest floor. Instinctively, releasing an exhale of defeat and acceptance, braced yourself against it, hands pressed into the rock. You were technically standing, but leaning far forward, bodyweight resting mostly onto the rock you were bending over on. His front pressed against you, hand pushing your back down into an arch, latching arms around your waist. There was no hesitation, no preparation, merely pulling the fabric of your dress up with one swift motion, and the waist of his pants down in another, all in a matter of a single moment, and rutting against you, once, twice, cock slipping against your folds, and on the third thrust, it actually slid in, pushing about halfway in with harsh force with no warning. You gasped at the sting, clawing at the rock as your face twisted with the slight pain, but his hand gripped hard on your shoulder. "Stay... Still." It was honestly impressive, you sometimes thought, to manage to get a cock inside you so easily with hip angling alone. He'd never thought to use his hands to do so, you guessed due to merely mimicking what he observed, as all humans did. Nonetheless, you let out a mewl at the feeling of friction against your walls as it dragged, pulling out a bit before slamming back in. Then again, faster. And again, faster still. And finally, setting into a rhythm, quick and harsh, your body lurching forward at the force. Defeat and despond had fully set in, and you made no movement to fight back, instead attempting to ease the discomfort by pushing back with the thrusts. And then, after a moment, it stopped. It often did -- again, a set pattern, a routine. Increasingly often these days, he changed his mind at this point, initially going with the instinctive, natural option, but it would take a moment to remember that there was an alternative. You shuddered at the sliding feeling and emptiness as he pulled back out, but even though you braced yourself, the air was knocked out of you as you were flipped over, back hitting the rock -- and this time aching as the bruising flesh from the earlier fall was hit again -- now leaning your weight onto the rock on your back, facing forward. The roughness with which you were tossed about and maneuvered was, you knew, not intentional, nor out of malice, but it always left you disoriented as your vision spun a bit. And it was only a single second before you were filled again, gasping a deep breath and reaching your hands out to claw at his back as you felt yourself stretched apart all in one motion, and your legs fell into the routine position of hooking over his arms. He liked it this way. The human way, he called it, with you on your back in some form rather than on your hands and knees, facing him rather than turning away, which had been the only way you'd done it -- you supposed the only way he had been familiar with -- for a good while. You'd introduced the position once when your arms and legs were exhausted from strain, and, perhaps to your relief, it became the most common way that the routine went down. You supposed that, deep down, no matter the way in which a person was raised, there were certain innate needs and instincts that could not be overridden, woven into the very biology of a person. For humans, intimacy, the feeling of affection, and you supposed that that itch was met for him more adequately this way. And he liked to mimic normal behaviors in that regard. You recalled a time ago, back before you were brought out here for good, the wide-eyed fascination with which he'd watch passing couples of people on the road and streets, would make an attempt to imitate the same actions, albeit lacking in the same gentleness, technique, or appropriate timing. Reaching out to grab and hold your hand (with a crushing grip) as you walked, awkwardly pressing your mouths together (so firmly that your teeth clacked and your jaw hurt). That, at least, had gotten better. Now, it was somewhat gentle, he leaned down and pressed his mouth to yours. Gentle, but still very awkward, lacking in the rhythmic motions with which you'd expect, more like holding still but pressing firmly against you, but lapping a quick lick to your lips. You could taste blood on his lips and tongue, a permanent coppery taste that never went away. That didn't last long. It was hard to maintain the mouth contact when he started rutting into you, causing your body to rock in jerking motions up and down on the surface, and his face buried itself into your shoulder, panting shallow breaths that were warm against your flesh. And again, like clockwork, you knew how the issue of your body rocking back and forth, disrupting the rhythm, would be solved, and you inhaled as you braced yourself, first for the tightening grip of arms around your waist, and then-- You gasped a sharp breath despite your mental preparation as teeth sunk into your jugular, opposite the one with the injury, further locking your bodies together. He growled, a low throaty sound. Teeth gnawed at your shoulder before releasing and sinking down in a different spot, digging into the flesh just short of the force it would take to break it. You cursed whichever god thought it would be funny to give him abnormally sharp canines. Even with your weight leaning against the rock, a good portion of it was still being supported by his arms, which, with any normal human being, you would hope would cause enough strain to perhaps slow down the actual thrusting, but you knew better by now. Nor did you expect any kind of buildup or anything, no, you gritted your teeth at the immediate fast pace that dragged against your insides, raw and with little fluid to lessen the friction. The quickness and suddenness always left you sore, your internal parts not having enough time or stimulation to expand or prepare, so each thrust that slammed into the top of your insides sparked a shock of pain and pleasure sensation so strong your entire body jolted with the feeling. The bruising soreness of the recent abuse to the same spot -- how many times earlier today, three, four? -- heightened the sensitivity. And, as with the rest of the routine, you didn't expect words. You couldn't blame him -- talking was hard enough when he was focused, you imagined it was much harder when preoccupied with sensation, and with less blood in the brain. It also made sense that he didn't seem to process anything you said either -- any slow down or wait fell on deaf ears, or rather, non-comprehending ears. Eventually you, too, fell into the same state- "I-- hah, ah, w-wait, mnn-" -- unable to form words, unable to take in anything around you, pure sensation clouding your brain of any and all thoughts. You heard your own little cries ring out and echo through the empty forest, and soft, pleasured whines in your ear, hot breath from panting that grew faster and faster as the thrusts became more erratic and harder, slamming in and out, the wet, slapping sound ringing out with your own voice. It pushed against all the right spots, stretching you incomprehensibly full, overloading your brain with the feeling, and the harder your nails sank into his back, the harder his teeth bit down into your neck. The sparks of pain from the feeling felt small, distant, erased by the overwhelming good feeling created by adrenaline and pleasure, and the thought of how badly it would hurt later was the furthest thing from your mind in the moment. And because you knew words meant nothing in the heat of these moments, you had learned that announcing or warning for orgasm didn't matter. Neither of you needed words -- as with many things, you could communicate it without them just fine. He could still sense it, the way you clenched and your hands grasped at his hair and raked down his spine, and in response, the thrusting somehow grew harder and faster still. A perfect and clearly understood communication as clear as any verbal exchange. The squealing you made, the way your body spasmed and your back arched, was better than anything you could have said, really. You weren't... actually fully certain he understood the action as anything other than communication, like a message indicating "cum now." You assumed that was what it meant to him, since, as always, you felt the movement stop, panting as he pushed into your one more time, holding your hips as close as possible as you felt a twitching inside. It was always perfectly coordinated like that. The peak was always too short, always that same burst of feeling that you wished could last just a moment longer, leaving you panting. Heavy breaths in and out, shuddering, sweaty flesh clinging to each other. You could feel the arms that held your legs up shaking with aftershock, forehead falling to rest against the spot between the mounds of your chest. Then, after a moment, a nuzzle, slowly rubbing a cheek against your collarbones. As soon as that stopped, his head popped up again, looking up at your face with those same wide amber eyes, soft and somehow, despite everything, they always seemed so innocent and bright. A curious, but fairly neutral, content sort of wide-eyed gaze. Anger resolved. Sometimes you were grateful it was that easy. "Ok. You're... good, now." You understood without needing it explained. "Good" indicated something along the lines of fixed or resolved, the phrase "you're good" indicating, in this context, resolution. You assumed it had originated from listening to others in some context or another. You swallowed, and nodded. There was no point in fighting now. A sort of numbing aftershock had set in, and your head was spinning so much that even if you ran, you might fall over on your own without the inevitable tackling. It was a struggle for another day... the same conclusion this always, always resulted in, a conclusion you reached more and more quickly each time, but you tried to put the concern that thought sparked away, merely standing on trembling legs. "...Stupid hunting trap," you muttered, giving the remains of cord a kick into the leaves. He tilted his head and made a soft hm? of confusion. "Th-the trap," your voice was raspy. "They laid out traps for - for catching animals, the hunters, you know." He blinked for a moment as he processed your words, then shook his head, but smiled, beaming with pride. "Mm-nn, I made it. Put lots of them around here." You squinted, head jerking up to scan the treeline - sure enough, now that you looked closer, you could see several treetops dotted with similar nets full of scraps set to make a sound when triggered and struggled against. In fact, the more you gazed around, you realized there were easily dozens and dozens of similar traps, some of different styles and shapes, all perfectly lining the edge of the woods before the road. "...You won't catch things like that," you muttered. "It's too close to the end of the woods." Another slightly confused stare. He shook his head. "Traps are... for you." You could always count on him for two things. Undying loyalty, and obtuse honesty. You blinked at him, expression flat in blunt surprise, then, with a crooked smile, you let out a single huff of bitter, tired laughter. You were numbed to the point that you were, at the very least, able to recognize the humor of it all. Another way of coping, perhaps. It only occurred to you then, as your thoughts cleared, how relief had washed over you when the lone wolf had run out into the night, but your mind had not been focused on your own violation. You remembered your words. Run, he'll hurt you. Your only concern in that moment had been his safety. The thought set off some sort of alarm bell in your head, but the utter exhaustion made it difficult to place much concern in anything.

Your legs were trembling in aftershock, numb and heavy, but it wasn't as if that mattered. Even as you briefly put a hand to the stone beside you to lean your weight onto in an effort to stand, you knew you wouldn't be walking anyway, that wasn't part of the routine. And sure enough, as you got about halfway upward, arms wrapped around your waist instead, and you were roughly maneuvered, tossed like a ragdoll, knocking the breath out of you as you were tossed over his shoulder. "Okay, we're going home, now." He started taking a few heavy steps forward, not even struggling in the slightest to carry your full bodyweight, instead walking as if you were light as air. You didn't protest. You slumped over defeatedly, merely casting your gaze all around, trying desperately to memorize the locations of at least a few of the traps in the dark, but knowing full well in the back of your mind you'd never get past them all. No matter how you may outsmart them, you could never win. It occurred to you that, in a way, you were the one falling for the same trick over and over, continuously placing a ridiculous hope in escape and falling for your own foolishness time and time again. Perhaps that made you a bit more like the animals than you liked to admit.

[squinoas]

Final Fantasy VII: Remake is both a blessing and a curse, to newcomers and series veterans alike - a (kinda) in-depth review of Final Fantasy VII: Remake.

Final Fantasy VII: Remake is both a blessing and a curse, to newcomers and series veterans alike.

As the latter, and someone who has played and enjoyed (and watched, in the case of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children), most of the compilation that followed the original, I feel confident in saying this game is a worthy remake of the standout hit that put Final Fantasy on the radar of the Western audience. The blessing is an imaginative and fleshed out retelling of a fraction of an original thirty-hour story – stretching it out and giving backstory to returning characters, while introducing some fresh (and welcome) faces along the way. The Midgar section in the beginning of the original Final Fantasy VII clocks in at around 3-4 hours of a player’s overall journey.

Not this time.

But is that also the aforementioned curse of this game? That those players who have enjoyed the original many, many times know of what it still to come? Throughout my play through of the game this felt like it was going to be its main detractor, when actually the ending completely throws this into the air.

Only time will tell if this is a good decision that will pay off, or if it will backfire. Nevetheless, I’m optimistic that the best is yet to come.

How long will we have to wait for more? That’s anyone’s guess at this point, especially with the Coronavirus situation. Safety comes first, and any delays to the second and third parts of this episodic epic (and I hope it continues to be epic) will be understandable – and hopefully, much like this first part, well worth the wait.

GAMEPLAY (COMBAT, MATERIA, WEAPONS)

Much furore has been made about the series ditching a turn-based system – one still employed by Dragon Quest (another Square-Enix property, and the most recent instalment, Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age, one of, if not my favourite, recent JRPGs).

Final Fantasy now employs an action-based model, more akin to another property, Kingdom Hearts.

Sometimes erratic and frenzied in 2016’s Final Fantasy XV, I’m happy to say that Square-Enix appeared to fine tune most of the aspects I disliked about that game’s playstyle and the result is Final Fantasy VII: Remake’s fun gameplay.

Keeping the ATB gauge involved was a good move, and gave the game a familiarity. The oscillating difficulties mean that there is a playstyle for everyone to find. I managed the entire game on normal mode (even my first time fighting the Whispers), until the Sephiroth boss battle. I have my own narrative issues with us fighting Sephiroth in the first part of this game anyway, but the difficulty spike in this battle on Normal mode felt unreal. I’d managed the slog that was the Hell House boss battle, and the annoyance of the escape from Shinra section, including that boss battle, but this was another level, and the only boss I had to change to easy mode for (which meant redoing the Whispers fight on that mode too).

On the other hand, there were bosses where, understanding their attack patterns and developing a strategy meant that winning the fight felt genuinely rewarding, as opposed to just time and energy-draining. An example of this was the Ghoul fought in the Train Graveyard – a new inclusion, and a whole strand of story that I enjoyed immensely. That battle really made use of switching between party members – Cloud and Tifa taking the lead in physical attacks and Aerith using her magic whenever necessary.

Materia has been updated, but not massively. Rather than a huge overhaul of the system, it still works largely how it did before. It’s been adapted for an action-JRPG but still comes down to strategy. However, an option to change materia mid-fight might have been prudent, considering the variety of enemy weaknesses. I found myself having to restart more than one fight because a batch of enemy scrolled through at least three different weaknesses and I was never adequately prepared for them at first. But at least restarting these fights was easy and hassle-free.

I liked the additions of new materia; such as Synergy which is another way to control what your other party members do in a fight, and the Magnify materia which works like the All materia of the original game. It made finding new materia fun and fresh, and meant I was constantly changing up my strategies to see what worked best.

The weapons system has been changed significantly, however. The upgrade screen looks stylistically like the crystarium from Final Fantasy XIII and the Historia Crux from Final Fantasy XIII-2. Therefore, it looks interesting, but is actually kind of boring when it comes to upgrading weapons. I ended up letting the computer upgrade my weapons with the balanced option, and this was a cool feature for people like me who found the task of upgrading tedious; especially when having to click out of each character’s weapons to only click into another one.

But the abilities that came with the weapons and having to develop a proficiency for these abilities was a nice addition. The only time I felt hindered by this was when Barret had to learn an ability on a close combat weapon. I like the fidelity to the original, but at the same time it was a handicap. Of course this is probably my own problem as I could have chosen not to use those weapons, something I may not do in a second playthrough.

Nonetheless, I felt like it encouraged me to play as every party member, and some were just downright cool. Special mention has to go out to Aerith’s Ray of Judgement, and Barret’s Maximum Fury which are so OP it isn’t even funny.

STORY (CHARACTERS, PLOT, ADDITIONS)

The original Final Fantasy VII is well known for the infamous ship wars. Clerith vs Cloti has been the ongoing debate for the past twenty years, and I don’t think this game is going to convince anyone that their side is right or wrong. It’s still left open to interpretation, at least in my opinion, and perhaps this was the best way to keep everyone satisfied. However, the game adds the additional element of having Aerith confirm that she did indeed love Zack Fair, the main protagonist and her love interest in Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core. As a ‘Zerith’ and ‘Cloti’ shipper myself, this game gave me plenty of moments to love for both couples. As someone who does have a liking for Clerith and Aerti, it kept me more than fed.

I have to give kudos to those involved with the game that they stayed true to the very canon interpretation that Aerith and Tifa are friends, and always were. True, they both expressed some small mote of jealously in the original game (and, at times, in this one too), but it quickly becomes obvious that they are both strong-willed young women who admire each other greatly. There are great examples of their burgeoning friendship but my favourites have to be kicking the lecherous asses of Don Corneo’s lackeys, and discussing a shopping trip for stuff for the bar.

All in all, the characters are kept true to their original incarnations. If anything, they – as with everything else in this game – are given to breath and work through things organically. They are fleshed out, and given further backstories, motivations and plot. I think this was best done with the doomed member of AVALANCHE, Jessie. She’s given a last name which, to begin with, makes her feel less like an ancillary plot device and more a character in her own right. To add to this, we meet her mother and father; which absolutely tugged at my heartstrings, what with her father’s tragic accident leaving him in a comatose state. We find out Jessie wanted to be an actress and was working at the Gold Saucer (this also works as a nice nod to places we know exist in-universe but will not visit until a later instalment).

Marle, Leslie, Madam M, Andrea Rhodes – every Chocobo Sam – are all fantastic additions, and I hope we see them again. In particular I would love to see Leslie reunited with his lost love in a future game.

Now, in terms of the story, I have played the original inside and out for many years, and always thought I would be against changes made to the story. Throughout most of the game most of these additions are simply changes that just make things more interesting for someone like me who’s played the original before. Towards the end, however, things take a drastic turn, and turn everything we’ve known on its head. As I said before, I have no idea where this is going to go in the next part, and there were some aspects that left me scratching my head.

The main of these being Zack. As far as anyone who has played the original or Crisis Core will know, Zack died in a last stand against the Shinra corps sent after him and Cloud after their break out from Nibelheim. However, the ending raises some interesting questions. At first I thought us defeating the Whispers had rewritten Zack’s fate, but maybe that’s not the case. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see where they take it (one change I did not like was Zack’s voice actor. I know all the English VAs were changed – which I wasn’t a big fan of in the first place – but the new voice actor does not sound good compared to Rick Gomez).

Overall, our characters end the game in more or less the same position as the end of the Midgar section of the original, but after the events of the battles with the Whispers it appears that certain events that would have been due to happen (the original ending with Red XIII, Aerith’s death, etc) may not happen at all – or at least, not in the way we think.

[momorabu]

Code Realize ~Future Blessings~ Playthrough - After Story White Rose - side Fran -

Warning: Spoilers. Image heavy post.

Please read Fran’s route on the original Code Realize’s playthrough before procceeding.

Finally~! Sorry if this was a long wait, but I decided to summarize the entire route into a post rather than splitting it up since I wanted to do a shorter playthrough than my usual ones as I find myself getting too long-winded ^^; Nevertheless, I end up adding alot of thoughts and the route was still pretty long to write so there you have it~ Enjoy the Fran and Cardia moments below ^^

Before the story starts, there was some flashback to the earlier game in regards to what had happened. (I personally like how it was basically a monologue of Fran’s thoughts, especially the part where he explained that he initially wanted to help Cardia in order to get rid of his guilt, deluding himself that by doing so, he might be able to erase his sins.)

Now, onto the future after the main game!

Fran and Cardia were still staying together at the huge mansion that Saint had left in their care. Fran had his day job as the royal alchemist at the palace, and the scene started with Cardia reminding Fran not to forget anything before he left for work. (Apparently, Fran was a little clumsy to have forgotten his stethoscope the day before, had his shoes worn on the opposite feet the week before, and had even accidentally brought Sisi to work XD)

(Fran’s explanation sounds like he didn’t have a good night sleep due to something Cardia did the night before... >////<)

Cardia noticed that Fran had a cowlick poking up on his head and was about to touch his hair to flatten when she realised what she was about to do and immediately stepped back. She isn’t wearing her gloves now, and she had been taking medicine to control her condition, but she was still afraid of her accidentally harming Fran. 

Fran took her hand and put it on his cheeks, assuring her that it’s fine and she did not need to be afraid. There’s no scent of melting, rotten flesh, and instead, she felt the warmth of her lover. It felt that only a little time had passed since Cardia had managed to touch things, so Fran tried to help her to feel comfortable about her sense of touch, which Cardia really appreciated.

Fran encouraged her not to rush, and that she’s just a regular girl now. (He even calls her his princess, awww~ >/////< When did Fran become such a sweet-talker~)

But, it’s not the time to endless indulge in touching each other’s cheeks now since Fran was going to be late. Cardia rushed Fran off to work, though she knew that she would have kept holding onto him if he didn’t have to work. Just as she lingered for Fran (when he just left ^^;), Fran came back again, claiming that he had forgotten something.

(Yep, this was what he had forgotten - to tell Cardia that he loves her, aww~ ^///^ Too bad he didn’t manage to stay for her answer.)

The story then went onto explain what other stuff had happened after the main game. Victoria had changed herself and now planned to aim for peace with progression and development for the country. Fran had rejoined the Royal Society once again as an alchemist.

In the day when Fran was working, Cardia would be cleaning and tidying up the mansion, the place where it held many memories of her and her friends. Now, only Fran, Sisi and she were the ones remaining in the mansion, with Saint, the original owner, signing the property over to them, and departed for France. (Wow, Saint just gave them a free house just like that... OWO) Cardia had decided that she shall take care and keep the mansion in top condition so that when her friends returned, the mansion would be just like how they’ve remembered it. 

(In case anyone was interested, Lupin and Impey were still travelling together, seeking of something of great import, whereas Van and Dora-chan were working together to protect the remaining surviving vampires.)

Remembering about her friends and realising the Fran wasn’t around in the house either made Cardia felt quite lonely, but Sisi nestled close to her feet to remind her that he’s still there. (So cute~) Suddenly, Sisi noticed something and ran off, thus Cardia chased after him to the dining room, and realised that there was a parcel on the floor... which was actually Fran’s lunchbox (Why is it lying there on the floor o.O?) Realising that this was perhaps an excuse for her to see Fran, Cardia decided to send the lunch box to him and set off with Sisi.

However, Fran wasn’t at his workplace when Cardia reached there, as he was attending a meeting at the palace with the Queen instead. Cardia could have left Fran’s lunchbox there actually, but she decided to head all the way to the palace instead. (Cardia must really want to see Fran badly XD) The guards were there when she arrived, and since she can’t just go through them, Cardia wondered whether she should just stay and wait until the meeting is over. 

A voice called out to her just then, and to her surprise, it’s Van~! (Van’s face when he realised that Cardia had come all the way to the palace just to give Fran his lunch~ XD)

Van decided to lend Cardia a hand in getting her into the palace by following him. Turned out that Van was here as a bodyguard for Dora-chan and this other person called Marquis Renfield, who was a supporter in Dora-chan’s aim to establish a vampire-governed zone, and their seminar for today was the one that Fran was attending. 

When Cardia spotted Fran, he was apologising to Dora-chan, revealing to him that he was the one had droved his vampire clan almost to extinction, since the poisonous Zicterium gas used to kill the vampires was ultimately invented by him. Though Fran knew that no apologies would be enough for him to atone his sins, he wanted to find someone who had survived, which in this case, Dora-chan, and attempt an apology. 

Dora-chan calmly told Fran that if he had not told him what he had done, Dora-chan himself would have never known about his sins, and thus not even have to apologise for it. But that won’t do for Fran since the guilt pained him every time they shared a conversation, and he knew that if he had continued on keeping this a secret, he would never be able to share a genuine moment with him. Dora-chan simply smiled and said that he knew what kind of a person Fran was and knew that he won’t be someone who would create a murder weapon of his own wish. He told Fran to stop taking responsibility for his creation and asked him to stop hating his own self because of that. (Now that Dora-chan had forgiven him and asked him to forgive himself, it seems that everything was much better now~ ^^)

When Van and Cardia approached them, Dora-chan blushed when he realised that they were eavesdropping on them, and also because Van had praised him that he was like his father XD Cardia told Fran that she was happy for him, now that he had finally dealt a thing that had been plaguing him for a long time.

Fran was curious why Cardia was here though, thus Cardia showed him the lunch he had forgotten to bring along with him. Dora-chan got curious and peeked into the basket Cardia had brought, then started asking whether this was a lunch packed with love and adoration, which made Fran started to blush furiously XD

(Cardia, you are not helping the situation by admitting to it XD)

(This scene is seriously too adorable <3)

Too bad that Fran had yet another talk after lunch, and thus wasn’t able to take the time to walk Cardia back to the mansion. Cardia decided to head home back herself, bidding goodbye to Van and Dora-chan, who promised that they would call on them when they passed by London again.

Before Cardia could leave though, she met Leonhardt, who told her that the Queen would like to see her. Even though Cardia was worried, Fran assured her with a smile that it would be alright. 

Queen Victoria smiled when she saw Cardia, explaining that she just wanted to have a chat with her and was even alright with Cardia calling her by her name. There had been major changes since the last time they had met, with Victoria reducing the military pressure on neighbouring European countries, and shifting towards a policy of peace. Victoria revealed that she had personally walked down the ruined street of the Lower Town of London, and saw it for herself how her actions had caused grief and misery to that part of the city. But she realised the people living there had not given up, continuing to rebuild their home, and found ways to survive and move forward. It was then she knew that the Britains themselves and Great Britain was not weak. 

(The Queen smiles here which I found it a beautiful sight <3)

Victoria decided that she shall now oversee the country’s progress rather than acting as a direct protector, claiming that she shall lay down the groundworks for future Britain. In fact, she had been so busy recently that she doesn’t even have the time to complain, which Cardia offered to listen to her whenever she’s free or even both of enjoying a teatime together.

Suddenly, Victoria motioned to Cardia to get closer, and wanted to know how things were proceeding with Cardia and Fran. Cardia smiled and answered Fran was always being very kind to her, even telling her that he loves her every day, (Aww, Fran does dotes on Cardia very much >////<) The Queen was glad to hear that and mentioned that it’s lovely to find someone that she can share her innermost self with, even remarking that she wanted to give marriage a try.

 (Poor Leonhardt did not take to this well though XD)

Victoria assured Leonhardt it would still be in the distant future that she will get married since stabilizing the country was her priority now. Even Cardia noticed that Leonhardt’s smile when he’s relieved seems more personal... (Hmm~? O////O) Cardia was glad to have the chance to share a pleasant afternoon chat with the Queen nevertheless.

As she walked home with Sisi though, she saw an elderly couple and wondered whether she and Fran would be like that someday, perfectly serene. She tried to imagine that, but couldn’t in the end...

When they were having a late teatime together after Fran came back from work, he noticed that Cardia seems abit distracted, and wondered whether she’s feeling unwell. 

(Cardia being unwell could be a good excuse to visit Fran, now that he had said that XD)

(It’s so adorable how Fran just straight up gave Cardia a peck on the cheeks with this confession~ >////< Guess what Cardia had said about Fran telling her that he loves her every day was true after all~)

However, their lovey-dovey time was soon stopped by a guest, who was none other than Saint, after coming back from France for some “business”. Saint was serious as he met them, telling them that there’s someone he wanted them to meet, or say, confront. And thus, three of them set off into the night and ended up on tower bridge.

Fran soon realised that something was amiss when he got on the bridge, remarking that it was weirdly quiet around here when usually there should still be traffic around here at this time.

The first person to appear before them was... someone in armour which Cardia remarked that she had seen before. A voice came from within the armour, explaining that they had been observing her ever since she had come in contact with Saint. An old woman in a wheelchair soon appeared next, and noticing Fran’s and Cardia’s confused faces, guessed that Saint had not told them anything at all. 

The old woman introduced herself as Omnibus, and that she governed an organisation known as Idea, where others had referred to them as “agents of destiny” or “guides of history”. Their mission was to ensure that history unfolds justly and to coax humanity away from grievous error. Turned out that Saint was a member of the organisation, an apostle as well as the woman in armour - Guinevere. 

Fran questioned their motive for meeting them here, to which Omnibus replied that she’s here to give them a warning, as well as offering a proposal for Fran. Apparently, Idea was impressed by Fran’s intelligence but was worried that he might cross into the realm of taboo like Isaac in creating what that was not supposed to, which was Cardia. They wished that Fran would consider things carefully before creating something, which Fran promised that he would take responsibility for what he had created, considering how he knew that the Zicterium he had created had caused countless of death. 

But the warning was just the beginning of what Idea had wanted to talk to Fran about. Their main aim was regarding Cardia, as even though her Horologium was currently rendered to be completely inert, there was still a possibility that it would awake someday, and that the dangerous poison would come back again. Fran was angry as he countered that this was impossible since he had used different methods available to check that the Horologium was stable, and thus the possibility of it reactivating was zero. 

However, what Idea was worried was not the Horologium reactivating in recent years, but instead, hundreds and hundreds of years later, since Cardia was still considered inhuman even if her body was not poisonous anymore, and might have a longer lifespan than one had thought of. 

(All this talk about Cardia was torture to herself, I feel bad for her D:)

And thus, since Idea was greatly fond of Fran’s talents, they wanted to offer him to become a member of the organisation, an apostle just like what Saint had become. 

Fran was shocked and wondered if this was an order, to which Idea informed him that if Fran was to choose to join them, he would be granted immortality, and he would get eternal life with Cardia this way. Obviously, this offer was very attractive to Fran, but Saint quickly stepped in and asked Omnibus to warn him about the consequences if he were to choose to become an apostle. 

In exchange for Fran’s immortality, he would have to dedicate his entire existence to Idea and carried out their orders, which was usually to kill others to remove their humanity to bring peace and prevent disasters from happening. Fran now had two choices, to accept Idea’s offer and be able to spend eternity with Cardia or to keep on living as a human and die one day, leaving Cardia alone in the world. Fran was suspicious about Idea’s purging of whoever that might bring harm to the world, since if Cardia was deemed as someone harmful, she was also considered a target by them as well. Initially, Saint was ordered to remove Cardia’s existence but Saint had pleaded with them to spare Cardia’s life, and now that Fran had managed to suppress Cardia’ poison, they decided to let her continue with her life for now. But if the Horologium was to create poison again in the future, Idea would spare no mercy in killing her. (Damn, Idea just seems really bent on on “purging” Cardia this entire conversation actually, and they kept calling her the cursed daughter D:)

Fran asked for time to think about the offer and was ultimately given three days to make his decision. When Omnibus and Guinevere were gone, Saint apologised as he had wanted to help to shield them from Idea, so that they can continue to live happily and peacefully together. Turned out that rather than going to France which he claimed to, Saint had actually gone to plead with Omnibus all these while, asking for Idea not interfere with their lives. Cardia was glad that Saint had helped them to ask for this chance though, as both Fran and Cardia knew that they would have to face with this problem regarding Cardia’s immortality eventually.

(Yes, these two had gotten so strong after what had happened in the first game T////T)

The two returned back to the mansion, but Cardia found herself unable to sleep, thinking that even though the poison was gone from her, she only looked like a normal girl and was ultimately still....a monster. Fran joined her at the garden, later on, remarking that he was unable to sleep too, and looking at his smile, Cardia wondered why can he still smile at a time like this. 

(Fran’s smile looks painful though T////T)

Fran admitted that he was worried, but he touched Cardia’s cheeks as always, assuring her that everything would be alright, but rather than worrying alone, he decided to stay by Cardia’s side instead. Cardia knew that Fran must be feeling more worried than her, but he was still so caring and warm towards her, which broke her mental defence and poured out to him that she was very frustrated and scared regarding this entire thing. She’s scared that she would end up destroying Fran’s future, her poison might come back someday and also losing Fran. Cardia realised that she had become weaker since, in the past, she was alright in spending nights alone by herself and being called a monster, but now... she could hardly bear the thought of landing herself in such a situation again. 

Fran was serious as he assured her once again that everything will be fine, and that he would never ever let her be turned back into a monster, even after hundreds and thousands of years. But in midst of his words, Cardia could sense a little amount of uncertainty in his voice, but all she could do was to break into a sob in his arms, knowing that Fran had never even mentioned what would happen to him at all. As Fran comforted her and got her back to bed, Cardia wondered what Fran was thinking about actually, and what will he decided on in answering Omnibus... Fran could only tell Cardia that he was still thinking about it, promising her that when he came to a decision, he would inform her first before anyone else. 

(I do like Fran’s determination here though, even though he had absolutely no idea what he should do at this point in time...)

The story continues on in Fran’s point of view. Two days had passed since Idea had offered the proposal to Fran, but what he had done till now was just comforting Cardia, and that was all he could do. Fran wondered what he was supposed to do, anxious to come to a conclusion before tomorrow evening. But he knew that there would be regrets regardless of whichever path he chose.

Just then, Saint appeared before him, noticing that Fran seems tired and sympathize his circumstances. Saint was considered a friend yet an enemy to Fran, since he had been acting secretly on behalf of Idea when he was with them, with orders to eliminate the Horologium, yet he did not. He told Saint that it was difficult to understand Idea’s prerogatives and he could not even forgive Omnibus for calling Cardia a “cursed” being. But, Fran was the most frustrated with himself, knowing that after all his efforts, he was still unable to mend Cardia. Saint encouraged Fran that he had actually done alot for her, by suppressing her poison, and teaching her about human warmth and learning to love others. 

Fran had initially thought that as long as he could suppress Cardia’s poison, they would be able to move on with their lives happily, but they indeed have to think about Cardia’s lifespan. Though it might be like an average person’s lifespan, there was also a possibility of her living on for hundreds and thousands of years just like what Omnibus had deduced. But regardless the length, Fran was firm in his goal in never letting Cardia becoming a monster, and will do anything in order to make her happy. 

He was about to come to a decision to join the Idea with Saint when the latter asked him whether Cardia was just a justification for him to reach a decision. Saint said that Cardia was a gentle and kind-hearted girl, which Fran should know better than others and wondered whether Fran was willing to spend an eternity bound to killing others for the sake of their future, and asked Fran whether doing that will make Cardia truly happy. 

(Off-topic but I do love this huge close up of Fran’s face here >////<)

Fran was at a lost and claimed loudly what on earth should he do. Though Fran will make sure that everything will be fine as long as the two of them are together, he worried about what will happen when he dies, thinking about how Cardia will be left alone forever and ever without him, living in terror and wondering when her poison was going to come back and turn her back into a monster... Therefore, in order to prevent that from happening, Fran saw it as a must that he had to continue living, in order to make Cardia happy.

But Saint’s words soon brought Fran back to reality. What he had said was his own vision of happiness, as Fran had no idea whether what he had thought of was Cardia’s happiness. If Fran were to pass away in the future, Saint would offer to watch over Cardia as part of his job of surveilling, but honestly, Saint wondered what would Cardia’s idea of happiness be with Fran. 

Even though Saint had tried to sound calm when he talked, Fran noticed a tint of anger in his voice. Saint warned Fran that eternity was far too long to be spent alone, making Fran wondered how long did Saint had lived, or how many missions he had done for Idea. Saint remarked that how he would be seeing them passing away one by one in the future, and when that time arrives, he would occasionally remember the days that they’ve spent happily together, and continue to live on with that. That would be the pain that Fran would have to bear if he chooses to go on this path, and Saint continued on that perhaps it was a blessing that he himself does not know of love, and thus he won’t have to bear this type of pain. (I feel abit bad for Saint when he said he doesn’t know love though TWT) Saint’s wish was that both Fran and Cardia would be able to remain as they are, and said that though a human’s life may be short when compared to the apostles of Idea, it would still be longer than what Fran had thought to be, claiming that the decades Fran had ahead of him would be enough for him to struggle through.

Thanks to Saint’s insight, Fran’s troubles seem to have cleared as he thanked him for his help. To that, Saint simply smiled and disappeared. Fran knew that Saint initially have no intention on talking about himself or his past, but he decided to, in the end, seeing that he trusted Fran enough, and had viewed him as a friend. The two paths Fran had in front of him, he decided that it was all too early for him to choose either path yet. 

Back on Cardia’s side, everything was as per normal, though she realised that she wasn’t feeling hungry and came to a revelation once again that she’s inhuman as she doesn’t need to eat to survive. She worried about herself becoming a monster once Fran was gone, though she knew that Fran swore that he would never let her become a monster and promised that she would never be alone too again. She wondered how Fran was going to carry out these promises, and knowing that she would be robbing Fran of a natural future, she’s not happy about it. Cardia could not bear the thought of sweet and kind Fran becoming an apostle and killing people an eternity. 

In the end, Cardia decided to go on a walk with Sisi to clear her head, and along the way, she noticed many royal guards and met up with Leonhardt, who explained that the Queen will be at the Royal Society today. Seems like Victoria likes to roam the city more nowadays since she felt that going out will aid her to gain more wisdom rather than staying cooped up in the palace.

Suddenly, Leonhardt apologised to her, especially for his actions against them as the Zicterium facility where they had confronted the Queen. Cardia forgave him, saying that they have very opposing beliefs at that time, but Leonhardt still felt bad about pulling his blade against her and hoped that she will accept his apology... as well as gratitude, since Cardia and Fran had helped prevent the Queen and Leonhardt himself from making a drastic mistake, smiling as he claimed that their actions had helped in creating the future of Britain. 

(Leonhardt’s smile was just too dazzling here~ +W+)

Leonhardt’s smile as he showed his confidence in the future made Cardia turned away as she found herself unable to face him, muttering that she found him amazing to be so positive about the future without any proof, and had, in fact, felt jealous about it. I really like Leonhardt’s answer towards Cardia so I’ll just let him say it below:

Leonhardt’s words reminded Cardia of the times when Fran had strived to save her life, even at the cost of his own life, and that because she had trusted and believed in him, they were all able to live today. Cardia decided that she shall be the one to help Fran and told him what he had told her before when he was suffering alone now, rather than relying on him to comfort her. And off she went to find Fran immediately, with Leonhardt chasing after her to stop her as Fran and the Queen were still in the middle of an important conference.

At that moment, Fran and Queen were discussing in the conference, which Victoria felt reassured that things would be able to proceed even more smoothly now that Fran had come back to the Royal Society. She noticed that he lacked confidence, and wondered what were his troubles about. 

However, before Fran could reply, Cardia rushed into the room and ended pushing Fran to the floor, asking him what was he going to do about Idea. Since Fran had said before that Cardia could find him at work, Cardia decided to do that since she can’t wait even a moment longer to hear Fran’s answer. Cardia revealed her wish to Fran -  she didn’t want him to join Idea and kill people just to secure her future, even if she does want a future together with him.

(Awww~ I just love this point of view from Cardia <3 Even Fran’s glasses got knocked off by the impact XD)

It was then Fran realised that his thoughts were different on what Cardia had wanted for her happiness since he had wanted to become an apostle at Idea if that was what it takes to prevent Cardia from weeping in agony and desperate for him when he wasn’t around anymore. In the end, if the future isn’t one that they would smile together, Fran guessed that it isn’t even one that they should consider. Cardia told Fran that she wanted to be the one to help Fran this time, by helping him to find the answer if he had yet to make up his mind, by finding a third path if either of those options will make either of them miserable.

(I know this was a joke by Fran, but erm... it would be scary if it’s true~)

(Confession time again~! >/////<)

Fran got up and complimented that Cardia was indeed a strong yet kind-hearted girl, and that was why he loves her, as he embraced her. He revealed that he just wanted to have a normal life with her, and doesn’t really care about maintaining the order in world history, and had made his final decision, which Cardia doesn’t have to worry about. 

Victoria interrupted them at this moment since she found it boring to be on the sidelines, though she’s glad to have witnessed this interesting scenario of Cardia pushing Fran to the floor. 

(Haha, Victoria’s teasing ended up making Fran blushed XD)

However, since Queen Victoria had heard about them talking about Idea, she was interested and wanted to know more about it, especially since she heard that they were involved in maintaining world history, though she also offered them help if they required it against Idea. Fran decided to reveal what they had learned about Idea (with some omissions though), and while they were grateful for Victoria’s offer to help them, they decided to face this problem by themselves, making a promise to report to her when this fiesta was over. 

It’s finally the night that Fran had to give his answer to Omnibus, though until the last hours, they've yet to prepare their best response. Fran had an idea though and asked Cardia to trust him, even though what he was proposing was going to be abit of a gamble. 

Saint met up with them later on and brought them to the same bridge again. Fran was worried about what will happen to Saint since his actions already proved to Idea that he’s biased to them, which Saint replied that he would be fine since he would have been eliminated long ago if it had been that bad. Saint wondered what was the odds of winning in Fran’s “gamble”, which Fran answered he had no idea, but he isn’t going to give up on this possibility. 

Sensing that Cardia seems nervous and afraid, Fran could only hold onto her hand, but that was already more reassuring that any words in Cardia’s heart ^////^

Omnibus and Guinevere soon appeared, asking for the decision to be made. Cardia could sense that the atmosphere had changed, with Fran motioning her to stand behind him while glaring at Omnibus, and even Saint’s intent to kill was exuding even though he had yet to draw his blade. 

Fran told Omnibus that the offer of being grant immortality was very appealing, and Omnibus urged him to accept it, even offering to grant him a wish of staying alongside with Cardia if he chooses to join Idea. But, even though Fran wishes to stay with Cardia and live with her, what he meant was the opposite of what Omnibus had expected. He had decided not to join Idea and just wanted to live his life with her since Cardia doesn’t wish for Fran to take the lives of others for the sake of their future together. The options for Fran were to either cease his humanity to gain an eternity with Cardia, or to erase Cardia’s existence since Idea still sees her as a threat, but both options were not what Fran had wanted, and thus he’s going to aim for another future that they had wished for.

Omnibus warned Fran again about Cardia having the possibility of reverting to a monster, which Fran promised that it would not happen as long as he was still living, swearing to protect her at all costs. Since the offer was being rejected, Idea might have to attack Fran and Cardia, but Saint warned Guinevere from getting any closer, as Fran had yet to make his offer to Omnibus.

Since Omnibus had praised Fran of his talents, Fran wondered perhaps he would be able to fully understand the Horologium within his lifespan, as he had already been able to suppress the Horologium’s production of poison completely within a year. Thus, he pleaded for Omnibus to give him time, until his death to fully analyze Horologium, though it was not to completely removing the poison from Cardia but instead ensuring that her lifespan would be similar of a human, with Cardia agreeing on shortening her lifespan voluntarily. This was after the discussion Cardia had with Fran - rather than him sacrificing his humanity to be with her, she wanted to be changed into a complete human being instead. If Fran had failed in his research to shorten Cardia’s lifespan, she asked for Idea to come and take her life away when Fran had passed away. Fran had made this proposal as a test for himself so that he could test his own potential in alchemy. He vowed to search for a way to make Cardia a human so that she will never become a monster again. 

However, Omnibus remarked that she could not see such a future working out for them, and the proposal does not guarantee peace for the world, and thus she could not accept it. With that said, Idea still viewed Cardia as a target and decided to eliminate her...

Omnibus even asked for Cardia to give up her life for the sake of peace, but Cardia just wanted to live with Fran and rejected her order. (Seriously who would actually do that =w=“)

Idea started to summon other apostles to fight against Saint, Fran and Cardia, up to eight of them which surprised Saint since he had never seen an incident which requires that many Apostles. (But that’s just how serious Idea had viewed this situation D:)

Though they were outnumbered, Saint isn’t willing to bow down without a fight, and even Cardia offered to help too, though she won’t be able to use her poison as an advantage anymore. However, suddenly there was the sound of gunshots in the air, and guess who’s here to save the day?!

Yep, it’s the rest of the gang! Saint revealed that he had actually called for them beforehand and brought them here so that they could come and give Fran and Cardia a hand when the situation calls for it. Cardia felt relieved and reassured since the appearance of her friends made the atmosphere much lighter.

(Saint was indeed in a difficult position, but I admire his courage to create a different path for his friends, even if it meant defying Idea’s orders though he isn’t planning on betraying them.)

Lupin’s gang doesn’t really believe much in helping the world in getting on the right path, all they cared now was to grant Cardia’s and Fran’s happiness since the two of them had worked so hard trying to attain them.

(I can’t help to fangirl abit over Lupin here. That was so cool coming from him! >////<)

(Woah Woah, Fran’s outburst of confession may be abit too hard for me to handle >////<)

Omnibus turned to Cardia, telling her that she foresees her future to be a path full of endless suffering, but asked even if that was the case, would she wish the happiness of being a human to herself. Of course, Cardia wanted that, saying that she will be happy, as long as she was with Fran, and she believed that Fran would do what he had promised. 

(I just love this part where Cardia tell the old lady off~ No one can decide on one’s future other than themselves! Sounds like Impey fell in love with Cardia all over again ^^;)

In the end, Omnibus decided to give up and gave Fran and Cardia a chance in paving for the future they wanted for, telling them that they shall put their current plan on hold and see how things will turn out. Cardia was glad that Idea had decided to give them a chance and believing in them.

(After pretty much being cold to Cardia the entire story, the old lady finally called her by her name and even smiled... Whew!)

As Idea left, the sun shined and it was another brand new day. Seems like they were saved (for now), and now Cardia and Fran can be together forever~ ^////^ The rest of the group pounced onto them, hugging and congratulating them. (Awww~) Cardia was thankful for the group showing up since, without them, the results of Fran’s proposal might end up differently. 

(I love the scenery of the morning sun, especially with Fran’s close up face in it~ ^//////^)

After some sweet talk between the couple, they kissed in front of their friends, with Van automatically covering Dora-chan’s eyes so he didn’t get to see them. (I guess this was still too early for Dora-chan XD) (And poor Impey feeling his jealousy fuming when he saw Fran kissing Cardia XD)

A week later, things were back to normal, with the rest of the group soon left to fulfil their life goals, and Cardia doing her housework at home with Sisi, waiting for Fran to return every day. 

Fran had reported to Queen Victoria about Idea as promised, and she was relieved to see both of them were safe and sound after the confrontation. Fran requested for an assistant to help him with the lab work since now he had yet another task (analyzing the Horologium) other than his daily duties as an alchemist. The Queen smiled and agreed, asking for the “new” assistant to make an appearance, and that person was none other than Cardia~! That really surprised Fran as Victoria explained that it was actually Cardia who had suggested it since she wanted to be of use to Fran, and... since Fran’s research would revolve around the Horologium now, she felt she should be around, though the real reason was because she wanted to be close to Fran too XD Fran thanked them while Victoria replied that she’s glad that her subjects had found happiness. Cardia wanted Victoria to find her own happiness as well, and her words took Victoria by surprise that she guessed that she shall search for her own happiness when things were more settled.

(I feel that Victoria was hinting something at Leonhardt here, but too bad the guy didn’t get it =w=“)

Fran and Cardia left the palace together after that, with Fran still feeling surprised as he had never dreamt that they would be able to work together, with Cardia being his assistant. Cardia felt that she still lacks in knowledge, but she was determined to study more to help Fran as much as possible, and Fran smiled as he told her that she will be a great assistant.

With Fran leading the way, they ended up in front of a church. (It’s a beautiful church~) Fran told Cardia that he had something he wanted to tell her today, and taught her that a church is a place for taking vows of love. He wanted to swear an oath of love to her and vowed that they shall live their lives as a couple and find happiness together. 

(I love Fran’s words here, regardless of what had happened in the past, we should always try to accept it and move on...)

(Cardia’s smile here is so adorable, I’m so glad that she found her own happiness here finally in the end ~ T/////T)

In the end, they exchanged vows as a couple and kisses at the church, with Fran promising Cardia that he shall love her with his all, forever and ever. The end~

Final Thoughts / Ramblings:

I’m so happy and touched to finish this route on the fan disc, so glad that everything turns out to be alright in the end T////T A part of me still wanted some more lovey-dovey moments though since most of the route was like bitter and sad moments D: I love Fran even more after this, he’s not a strong character, but he really works hard and tried his very best to give Cardia happiness the most he can. Most of the time I’m already touched by Fran’s feelings and motivation, rather than what he had actually done, guess it’s the thoughts that count? Fran is seriously like an angel, how can a guy be so kind seriously~ T/////T

PS: Felt that Saint was such a great pal to be, seriously without him, there may not be a happy ending for Fran and Cardia, so thank you so much, Saint~

[alo-piss-trancy]

What Lurks in the Shadows (P/5 Omo Snippet #7)

((BIG BIG PLOT SPOILERS FOR P5 BELOW!!!!))

((This was going to be a 3 part omo whumpfest about Akira's time after captured by the police/Akechi. 1st chap would be his time in confinement w/Sae and then the car ride with her after escaping aka normal playthrough, 2nd was the Bad End w/Akechi which was going to be absolutely brutal, and THIS was Chapter 1.5 (took place directly after Sae's chapter which had 1 wetting. Makoto stays the night in leblanc to keep an eye on him since Sojiro and Sae can't. Akira is super fucked up from all the injected drugs, Tae's meds, and the trauma. Out of all my snippets this is the one I was most invested in and would love to finish if I ever had time/motivation.))

((Forgive the not-so-accurate injuries, I had planned to research and edit those to be more realistic/close to canon after the basic draft. Same with his paranoia it was gonna be more fleshed out.))

The haze of sleep had faded as he gradually became aware of the various signals coming from his body. His head was pounding... he wasn't sure how much was from the man's foot kicking into it when he'd first woken up in that cell, and how much was a side effect from the drugs still coursing through his veins. It was enough to make him feel nauseous, but the churning in his stomach was nothing compared to the sharp stinging every time he tried to breathe. His sides and back were killing him. 

Everything hurt… he just wanted to drift back off...

But there was one other thing he was aware of that would make that impossible. His bladder, heavy and aching badly enough that he had to squeeze his thighs together, huffing under his breath. Right. Normally he was fine during the night, but after what had happened earlier and all of the fluids he'd had to drink to combat the dehydration, he guessed it made sense that those muscles would be weaker than usual.

Licking his lips, he reached towards the nightstand, fumbling around for his glasses. His sides were screaming in response to the simple movement, but he finally managed to get his shaking fingers to grasp them. As soon as he put them on though, he swiftly wished he hadn't.

His vision was still bleary anyways from the sleepiness, but the slight bit of extra focus he gained made the darkness of his room seem much more threatening than it had been a few moments ago. It had been hazy before, but now he could make out sharp shadows and bulky figures, some of which he swore would move the moment he turned his head. He couldn't gain a clear image, but they were there, lurking in the edges of his vision, the briefest flashes of legs or arms, shined shoes, smug faces. Sharp teeth, inhuman masses, bloody necks without heads.

Shadows can't manifest here, can they?

Arsene. Arsene, can you hear me?

He couldn't sense the rush of unrestrained power, that rush of confidence and flair that let him know his Persona had come to the forefront of his mind. He couldn't feel anything but his heart beating faster, the tremble of his shoulders as he pulled his arms closer to his chest. 

Another flashing face out of the corner of his eyes and he was forced to clench them shut. How many of these things were there? Where were they coming from? Ow, sitting up like this really hurt... every inch of him hurt...

There's too much I'm trying to focus on... I can't think clearly enough to contact him…

Nibbling his lip as he squeezed his thighs together against his body's insistent nagging, he risked a glance towards the left side of the bed. Makoto was still lying there, sleeping peacefully. The sight was somehow both comforting and painfully lonely. Yes, it was nice to know someone else was here with him, but if they weren't actually awake to see the danger in the room...

But... she's always aware of things.  She's the one who triple-checked the door, and made sure both our phones were charging. If there was really an intruder here, she'd wake up immediately, right?

There's nothing here. There can't be. We're the only two things alive in here.

Those things that he was seeing... they must just be hallucinations. Terrifying, but not real. He fought monsters weekly anyways. He could handle a few spooky apparitions.

Taking a breath, he forced himself to look back at the rest of the room, his eyes straining to see what the strange forms and shadowed areas could be. Well, he knew some of the lumps by memory... the crafting table, and all of the junk on that one shelf...

I can feel my way through the rest.

But just as he started to work up the nerve to shift his legs, he caught sight of the door. The doorway, cloaked entirely in darkness, and leading the way down into a pitch-black café. The café everyone had been gathered in so shortly ago...

Someone could have seen Sae's car... And if Futaba had bugged the place once, surely the much more advanced resources the police had access to could do the same... They could have followed him here, and they could be waiting, right down there, and he'd come down and they'd pin him again, and he couldn't fight back, not like this, and they'd-

His breath quickening, he'd finally let himself lie back down, pulling the blanket over his head. He couldn't risk it, he couldn't go down there, not when there could be an ambush...

Just listen to yourself! You got away! You had that whole plan, and it worked, you know it worked! Makoto's here, Sae's on our side... you're safe here…

He knew he should trust logic. But... if there was the slightest chance that they could be here, that he could go through that hell again...

He could wake her, ask her to walk down with him...

But if he was right, then they might beat her, or drug her, or do something even worse, and he couldn't allow her to be put through that...

And if he was wrong, which was just as likely, then she'd just think he was wasting her time and being paranoid, and he was their leader, he was supposed to be confident and strong and totally not scared about the way their plan had gone, because if they knew he had doubts, they wouldn't focus, and then they might not be able to stop Shi-

I can't ask her. I can figure something out.

Well, he couldn't hold it until morning, and he definitely wasn't going to piss himself, so he'd just have to suck it up. Whatever was waiting down there, he'd just have to brave it. 

Just run down there, it'll take two minutes tops. You'll be back up here in no-time, and then you can go back to bed and sleep it all off.

He couldn't bring his legs or arms to move. They were just frozen in place, paralyzing fear running though his body. 

The pulses were getting stronger and stronger with every minute he stayed lying there, each steady throb forcing him to bite down on his lip harder, forcing his hand to squeeze his crotch tighter. He wanted to squirm around so badly, but he couldn't risk waking her. Squeezing his watery eyes shut, he rocked his hips a little, nearly rutting into his hand in a desperate effort to take the edge off. It wasn't helping, damn it, nothing was helping, it was just getting worse and worse...

It's just a room away, damn it! Just get up! All you have to do is get up!

He couldn't help moaning as another urgent spasm sent pain ramming through his abdomen, a slow trickle of warmth dripping out for a few seconds before it stopped, not enough to give him any relief at all. He was already in enough pain, and yet this hurt so badly...

Just slide off the fucking bed. The plant's right there, you don't even have to go downstairs. Just stand up and walk a few feet.

The dim noise of a dog barking outside assaulted his ears, and he clutched himself tighter, his crossed legs shaking as his bladder continued to spasm, waves of pain rolling through him as he fought to breathe quietly. He needed to go worse than he ever had in his life, and yet he was stuck laying on his side, panting into the pillow. He couldn't even work up the nerve to throw the covers back and sit up, knowing they were his only shield from everything else outside his protective bubble.

If I go out there, they're going to kill me... Akechi's going to be there with a gun, or they'll wrestle me to the ground and cuff me again first…

Another burst of warmth started streaming into his boxers, leaking through to wet his sweatpants. His face was blazing hot, sweat starting to drip along his skin, and he groaned, pressing his face harder into the pillow. He felt sick. It felt like the room was starting to spin, and he could barely find the strength to clench himself off before he leaked any more.

I can't piss myself again... I... I can't…

But I can't get up, not when they're right there…

It was too easy to hear the voices floating up from downstairs, those deep tones and firm orders, heartless, merciless. It was too easy to feel the sharp toe of a boot against his ribs, or the cold metal pressed against his head, the sting of more needles jabbing into his skin. He could taste the copper in his mouth, the warm heat bathing his tongue as he tried not to swallow mouthfuls of his own blood...

His entire abdomen was throbbing and pulsing, shudders running up and down his spine as he whimpered under his breath, squeezing as hard as he could against the burning in his crotch. The wet fabric rubbing against his skin kept teasing him, and little spurts kept slipping out to soak them further. 

Please... if I can just hold it until the sun comes up…

If he could just wait until Sojiro came in the morning... it would prove he was safe then...

A new jet shot out to flood his thighs with warmth, coming out so harshly that he had to bite down on his knuckles to muffle the gasp. When he breathed it caused the fabric to shift slightly, little dribbles of the liquid sliding around on his skin. He could feel every inch of his lower body throbbing, the stinging urge to release aching at the very edge of his member. Grinding against it wasn't doing anything to ease it anymore. If anything, it just made his need worse, forcing tiny leaks to drip out with the added pressure.

If I could at least slide off onto the floor, that'd be easier to-

Bang!

The click of a gun, aimed at his head as Akechi walked through the door, striding over to find him on the floor and helpless. 

The creatures were still flashing at the edges of his vision too, dancing around in the dark patches. One could easily be lurking under the bed, waiting to drag him under and rip him apart.

Another harsh burst started pouring into his pants, and he tightened the grip on his mouth, hoping to imprison the sob trying to escape. Sojiro was going to kill him for this.

I can't... I just can't...

No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't hold it anymore. It was gushing out now, heat drenching between his legs, his thighs, and pooling around his waist. The muffled hiss against fabric sounded way too loud in this room, and he squeezed shut teary eyes, praying nothing was attracted by the noise. It felt so good to go, but the relief only made him feel sicker, his stomach twisting into knots as he felt the blankets around him and the sheets below begin to soak into a pool. 

He was trying his best not to sniffle too loudly, nose running from the light smell that was trapped under the covers, but he felt the bed shift as what he dreaded most began to happen. Makoto was moving, starting to stir with a soft groan, and he was nowhere near finished.

Stop, please stop... please stop...

But no amount of shame was going to force his body to put itself in more pain just to spare his feelings, and he could only lay there in dull fear as urine kept gushing out of him.

"What... What time is it?" It was the softest of slurred voices, but he still flinched as Makoto sat up. She was probably rubbing at her eyes, but he wasn't about to risk making eye contact to check. No, he was keeping his eyes firmly closed, doing his best to try and shut out whatever visual horrors lurked around him.

"Why is... The bed feels..." His breath hitched despite his best efforts, fresh pain shooting through his chest, and that was enough to awaken her more fully. "Akira? Akira, are you crying?"

He didn't answer, trying his best to keep quiet even though it was impossible. His breathing was becoming more ragged as his nerves and the pain caused by them set in, and a few of those shameful tears were sliding down his face. He couldn't wipe them with both hands busy.

"Akira?"

((He's ashamed, but is still too panicked by everything else to be too upset about the actual wetting. She's very gentle when she comforts him, listens to why he couldn't leave. ))

((when she finally helps him move to sit in the floor, he's in agony from his injuries and still dizzy from the drugs.))

"You're wet..." She yanked her hand back from where she'd been touching him, squinting in vain as she tried to inspect her skin in the dim glow of moonlight. "You shouldn't be wet there."

"Sorry... it was kind of a lot, so..."

She shook her head quickly. "No, it can't have been that, it's too high up. Let me see your shirt." 

Before he could protest, she reached out to grasp the edges, tugging the cloth up until it was just below his armpits. He shuddered, both from the pain of having to keep his arms stretched up out of the way, and because of the chilly air hitting his skin.

"Akira, you're bleeding!" The moment her fingers stroked the bandaged area (light as her touch was) he flinched, gasping and gritting his teeth to try and trap a mewl of pain. 

"Oh, sorry, I'm so sorry! That's near where your ribs were broken... I'm going to have to change your bandages though, and get another look at that wound. I think all of your moving earlier pulled open the scab."

((takes him downstairs to clean up in the bathroom, washes him very carefully and avoids his privates. He hates that she has to see his injuries in full, but has no choice.))

((after he gets re-bandaged, she quietly suggests he wait in the booth while she fixes him a snack because he didn't eat earlier (he chooses to hide out in the bathroom instead, still paranoid about the door. She agrees to stay in there with him) ))

((At one point while they're downstairs, Morgana and him make brief eye contact through the shop window. Mona desperately wants to come in and comfort him, but Akira signals for him to stay outside like they originally planned. Mona knows the best way to help Akira is to stand guard seriously, even if his heart is being torn to pieces seeing what a wreck his best friend is...))

~~~

"I told you, I'm really not hungry..."

"Just some light broth, and a few noodles. I'll go fix it, stay in here and rest until I come get you."

((when she comes with his food and some light pain meds, he sees her eyes are bloodshot and puffy. She's been bawling in the kitchen, but forces herself to be calm for his sake.))

((they can't do laundry for the bed at 4am, so she fetches some clean blankets from the closet and they lay bundled up on the floor ))

((makoto tries to comfort him with sympathetic story of Kaneshiro's harassment and calls, when she was terrified he was going to break into her house and how she dealt with the paranoia to keep from breaking down since she couldn't tell anyone.))

((More angst fluff and both trying to hide their emotional anguish from each other as they fall asleep huddled on cold tile bc I am nothing if not a cruel bitch))

[darkzeruda1214]

Kairi deserved better.

Oh, boy this is going to spark up some debates.

Now I want to CLARIFY before I start.

I DO NOT. Under any circumstance hate. Or dislike Kairi. Personally I think she was one of the few characters that actually have an interesting background and has a lot of potential as a character. And I really do like Kairi, but I think the rest of the fandom can agree with me.

She. Was. Done. Dirty.

Seriously. Does anyone in the development team even like or want her in the series?!

This girl deserves better. As well as give her some spotlight and some much needed personality!

*Canon Kairi is just really... unjust. The fandom does a much a better job portraying her character! (TAKE NOTES NOMURA Dangit! You could learn a few things from the fans!)

Anyways...

Time to get to the topic, (also thanks for my cousin for allowing me to use their exact words for this argument).

(SPOILERS FOR KH3)

So after finishing KH3 I was left unsatisfied and just plainly angry at the ending. And after what happened to Kairi, there’s nothing more than I want is for her to get some redemption because what happened to her is utter bullshit. One of the things that really pissed me off was how they handled her.

And yes, I’m talking about the final battle, but one thing I think many people tend to overlook is her treatment in the trailers.

Now I know some of you are confused by what I mean. But the trailers really deceived fans about what Kairi was going to offer. A lot of fans speculated, argued and theorized that Kairi was FINALLY bulk up and be ready to fight. She was finally going to be useful.

Now to be fair she isn’t and act totally useless. I mean she did save Sora during the Final World arc. (But you know, Square totally missed an opportunity that could have given Kairi more substance, but that’s for a totally separate debate for another time).

The trailers made it seem that Kairi was going to be part of the final battle. Now that part wasn’t a lie, but they clearly only gave her the spotlight for a couple of scenes, she’s a party member for the first part of the battle and then that’s it. We don’t even have her throughout the ENTIRE battle. She’s just cast away, because PLOT!

Utter. Bull.  

But another thing that really degraded her character as a whole is the lack of personality.

Kairi used to be a snarky and sarcastic character in KH1. And I really enjoyed what kind of character she used to be during my second play through.

(Though I’m gonna be honest, I didn’t have any attachments to any of the character -not including Disney exclusive characters- in my first playthrough until later on in the story. Riku was the only one I was more intrigued about).

Back to Kairi, even with the few seconds she was in, she had something that made her feel like fleshed out character. Not by much, but there was something. And all of that was nearly taken away in KH2, now some of you are probably ready to argue that KH2 was her best version. I’m incline to disagree, now while Kairi was mostly asleep in KH1, she had more personality in the first game compared to the second. Because in the second game, she becomes less sarcastic and more bold when it came around action.

This is where I feel Kairi started to fall as a character and more as a plot device. Because as we all know it, she get’s captured. At least in the first game she had purpose and a reason to be there.

In KH2 she had absolutely no reason to be there.

As much as I hate to say this. Her character direction fails in the second installment, because the only time she’s relevant (not including Naminé) is the Roxas telepathy conversation and the bottle scene. After that, the only way to keep her in there is by having. Her. Get. Captured. 

She’s ‘the fire’ that keeps Sora going. And at that point she’s only there as a plot device for Sora. Who he himself wouldn’t be relevant either had it not been for the Keyblade and for Roxas. But since he’s the playable character he’s obviously important. But… the same can’t be said for our Princess of Heart. While they managed to keep something in for Kairi in the second game, it was completely tossed out entirely in KH3. Honestly, the only thing I got from her is that she's heavily infatuated/in love with Sora (which isn't a bad thing, it's just that’s ALL her character had to offer in the third installment). And just in general I think her development went in the wrong way.

So we finally get to the title of the rant.

I know a lot of people are going to disagree with me and that's fine. Since we all have the right to our opinion, and to disagree and agree.

But I think she didn't need to have a Keyblade.

Or at least in the way how the writers decided to give it to her.

Reason I say that? She didn't even EARN her Keyblade. Yeah, I said it. 

She didn’t earn it, Riku gave it to her like a gift card. Like: here, it's yours. (It’s pink. So I don’t want it. It matches your clothes though).

That’s it.

They just handed her a Keyblade. That it. She didn’t even have to WORK FOR IT. (Not even a joke since the franchise is handing those things like lollipops) Now. If they had allowed her to manifest it. I dunno, actually EARN it, like how Sora and Roxas did. (Heck, even Riku got it, off screen, but he still got his). And addressing the Wayfinder’s Keyblades, it’s pretty obvious since they were training to be masters at the time. And don’t even get me started on Union X and Ven.

But Kairi was just given the damn thing like a kid given candy. Not through some rigorous trial of heart, mind or soul. Not through battling. No. Just handed one. 

I mean yeah sure you could argue her coming to another world could work for her favor, after all she traveled from one world to another. Being brave to help out Sora despite being in danger herself. But again, she’s just given the Keyblade by Riku. Not by her own power. She’s just gifted THE DAMN THING!!!!

I’m sorry. But I don’t think that’s how KEYBLADES WORK!

Look at Axel/Lea! He manifested the Keyblade in his hand! Sora’s appeared to him at first, but then he earned it after showing that his heart is strong and his power is through friendship. 

Roxas earned Kingdom Key through Sora, but later he earned his own Keyblades after his strong promises and from battling. One from defeating Xion and the other from the sworn promises.

And it’s no doubt Riku got his from all the hard work of fighting the darkness and helping Sora in his journey. 

But Kairi. Didn’t.  This pisses me off.

Honestly... at this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised that the writers (actually I think I want to blame Nomura for this) don’t like Kairi. If they don’t even bother to put any effort in making Kairi a fighter. Why on earth did they have to give her a Keyblade?  

Again. If they allowed her to manifest it, or let her go through a small trial of some sort like everyone else, or test the power of her heart then I wouldn’t be arguing this topic.

I’m not saying it’s intently bad that they gave her a key. I’m saying the way how they did is simply lazy writing and makes Kairi look useless.

Because of her Keyblade, I think that’s the reason why a lot of people wanted her to fight. And honestly, I feel that was the wrong direction to grow her character.

I can name a good number of cartoon, game and anime characters who don't have ANY fighting experience but are still amazing characters.

And I think that’s a problem in pop culture in general. What most fans of any series don't realize, is that well-written female characters aren't just those who kick butt and shoot stuff.

They don't have to be a badass to be a good character!

And I think that's what really screwed Kairi over in the end. (That and what Nomura did to her). But the moment they decided to give her a Keyblade to fight, it really tipped her off badly.

So going back to the trailers, since I clearly forgot to remind myself, the trailers really made it look like Kairi was finally going to be able to help in physical part of the battle.

They emphasizing so much on her training, that it made it seem like Kairi was going to be a stronger character "physically.” But… once the game was released, there wasn't anything to back it up all that “training.” In fact we didn‘t even get to see her and Axel train at all.

And to me that was a shallow move. The only thing the trailers served was a cheap extension to encourage people to buy the game. I think they tried really hard to sell the game by releasing too many trailers too early in the year that not only spoiled the story, but made fans wait even longer for a game that didn't even feel complete.

All that’s left is the Re:Mind trailer. (Edit ReMind fixed her character. About DAMN TIME!)

But that's just my opinion, if you don't agree with me, that's fine I respect your opinion. I don't mind at all Kairi having a Keyblade or learning how to fight. But I don't think that's what she needed in order to be a good character. She really needs a fleshed out personality and some interests/hobbies outside of simply being in love with Sora.

No hate to Sokai ship. It's a good couple, just... was poorly executed in cannon. Fandom works have better stories and delve into the relationship and characters (better than Nomura ever could write) I'm sorry. But I'm still bitter to what he thought would be a good thing to add in KH3 especially after how many years fans waited the game's release.

*I know there are other reasons as to why Kairi looks and is treated as a bad character. But her poor development discussion has been overdone so many times that it’s practically common knowledge for any Kingdom Hearts fan.   But again that's me.

I really needed to get that out of my system.

[bd-bandkanon]

so I’ve been playing this game called Kenshi and it’s ruining my life I guess?

I did a short 'noob fail’ playthrough with the Wanderer start and a boring random dude I called “Tiddlywinks”. Within 24 in-game hours he broke both his arms trying to fight without weapons, got beat up by hungry bandits, and then got eaten alive by blood spiders, so that didn’t go over well...

But then I started a new game with the Nobodies start. I got to have five characters, though they started out in the horrifically unforgiving desert called Venge, which has broken skeletons (robots) wandering the sands and giant flesh-scorching lasers shooting from the heavens. These guys were my characters. They survived thus far, and have each developed their own array of skills, and as I kept learning about the lore of the game I also began to build on each of their backstories... So here they are in order of appearance I guess lol

-

First there’s the Greenlander Fujin, a twice-traitor to her former factions and the daughter of a high-ranking samurai. First she freed a bunch of slaves and ran away from her home in the Empire-owned city of Heng, then she joined the Dust Bandits and, after some time, abandoned them as well. All she wants in life is a ‘family’ of her choosing. Seems like she’s got what she wants now-- and she’ll do everything in her power to protect them. 

With a Plank type weapon as her go-to and heavy armor to soak damage, Fujin is definitely the tank of the team, but also the fastest for reasons I might explain later...

-

Then we have the Scorchlander twins, both escaped slaves of the Holy Nation and both actively in search of a place they can call home, free of influence from uncaring factions and safe from the dangers of the wild-- like Fogmen for instance. So Mongrel is out of the question. Ares is a vigilante at heart and will be quick to free any slave from their shackles if she sees them, and Vass is constantly prodding the land hoping there’s a place suitable for living. 

Vass is both fast and an excellent dodger, preferring the sabre but capable of martial arts if need be, and Ares is a sharpshooter. (It’s fun to aggro enemies with Vass while Ares bumps them off from a long distance)

-

This next one is pretty long: Leer is a Hive Worker Drone, which are usually dumb and flimsy-- but he’s kind of a rare gem. Stolen from his Hive shortly after his conception by a skeleton named Kite, Leer was raised and educated in Black Desert City, a town run entirely by skeletons in the barren region of persistent acid-rain known as the Deadlands. There he was brought up differently from his Hiver kin, excelling in subjects that even Greenlanders don’t have access to. He was happy there-- until one day Kite vanished, never to be seen again. Leer set off in search of his mentor, but such sudden exposure to the outside world was quite the shock to him. People degraded him for his race, judging his intelligence by it, and used his physical weakness against him. He was a target for everyone and everything, subject to assault and abuse from all angles. It was only a matter of time before he employed the company of two scorchlander twins and a very large woman to protect him on his journey... but deep-set feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt lead him to set his own goals aside in favor of theirs. He truly wishes to be useful to his friends, but at the same time he also wants to be reunited with Kite. Despite all this, despite EVERYTHING, Leer is the brains of the group. A strategist suited for warfare, he has so far orchestrated the most successful of the group’s battles, has prospected the regions, has done all the research-- and very recently he gained the alliance of about 27 damaged skeletons... Very soon people will have to call him Commander Leer. 

On the actual gameplay side of things though, he really IS the best prospector and researcher of the five. I don’t know how I managed this. But I like it. Not to mention he’s pretty formidable with the naginata and other such polearms, though for a while he did tend to have to switch out to katanas because he is indeed squishy and his left arm was quite the target. But now it’s gotten to the point where barely anything can get more than one hit in on him, and that’s not just thanks to his skeleton army.

-

And now for the one we’ve all (just me actually) been waiting for: Ghost. (I briefly considered renaming him Geist because I discovered there’s a canon character named Ghost in the game, but Ghost just suits him better.) Discovered by the group in a ruined lab in Venge, they reportedly witnessed a bunch of skeleton Thralls (headless broken skeletons) working on him. The group wasn’t sneaky enough though and got attacked by these Thralls-- just in time for him to wake up. Just like that, the thralls left without a second notice as if they’d been called away, leaving the four alone with Ghost who quickly got to patching them up. Upon questioning, they discovered that Ghost didn’t remember anything from before he awoke-- not even who he was. It was Vass’ idea to give him the name Ghost, and with nowhere else to go, he chose to accompany them out of Venge and onward. Not long after, problems began to arise. He’d have violent attacks wherein he’d be overtaken by pain and black out. When he’d come to, small memories from his past would become revealed to him. But many of these things wouldn’t add up. As if he’d been in two places at once... Worse yet, he was soon to find that there’s a strange inconsistency with Skeletons, how their memory reportedly degrades over time thus leaving the past in shadows, and yet the way they react to his own plight... Very distressing, one might say. Either way, it’s this plight of his that inspires the group to venture to places they would otherwise never attempt to travel, and uncover things no man should ever see. He’s a driving force, almost as if he’s meant to lead them... somewhere. Who knows where. Only time will tell.

Ghost’s stats are the best out of all of them, all things considered. Mainly relying on katanas, with a hand in ranged weapons as well, he’s more often than not the last one standing. He’s even taken on entire hordes of enemies while his companions lay helpless. In short, he’s a freaking badass. It’s wise not to mess with him, even if you think you have him outnumbered. (But I wouldn’t put him up against a group of crab raiders...)

One final note, I actually had to rework Ghost’s design because honestly? I can’t draw the canon design for the typical skeleton without making it look janky as all hell. So I came up with something --- close, but definitely not the same.

But now that I’ve finally got all that down on paper I can finally go to bed I’ll probably talk more about this later goodnight bye

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Oh! I wanna hear your hyper critical opinions towards p3 (and p4 if youre up to it). I am genuinely curious as to what it is!

pDSOAPFADFJIOA;FJIA;JF;DA Ahhhhhhh if only I wrote down everything I said (I did this over a year ago). under the cut cause long:

It was easier cause I was ripping it as we played and I had some nitpicks in the dialogue (more so with like “WAIT THAT MAKES NO SENSE!” or “WHY ARE YOU JUMPING TO THAT CONCLUSION?!” kinda thing rather than a translation error). But I can’t really specify what it was cause it was so long ago. The only one that comes to mind is when they’re jerks to Naoto, it must be how she’s talking in Japan cause like.......they’re really, REALLY rude to her. Like, they do realize she has a right to be suspicious of them right? Like, don’t get me wrong, I loooooooove the animosity in some way (great foe-yay/rival shipping yay fodder for me to ship her with the MC ahuhuhu 8U) but dang I wish they made more tension (and made it even). That’s actually the one thing I thought the P4 anime did right (and trust me I don’t think that anime did a lot of things right, esp concerning Naoto...ironically XD), they really built the tension between her and the group very well. Anyway I want to go into more detail some other time, maybe when I replay the two games, but for now I’ll give you a general overview). 

Ok so all and all I think P3 and P4 are fine the way they are. They did a good job with them. P3 for being Hashino’s first hoorah into the series (also didn’t have enough time or money to include everything and had to cut stuff, LIKE THE FEMC! ;W;), and P4 for.....having such....a small.....budget....and....not a lot of time....and.....the company was struggling.....Like dang man I’m surprised we got P4. So like, compared to P5, I’m a lot easier on these two cause in one case Hashino was trying to find his style, and the other he was struggling with working with almost nothing (P5, however, didn’t have any of these issues).

Ok so like.....My biggest issue with P3 is mostly it’s characters and character relationships. P4.....I wish we could’ve hung out with Naoto earlier (even before she joined the team, that would’ve been interesting if the MC and her met up and attempted to draw more info out of each other about the case), and I wouldn’t have minded if they added more to the murder plot. 

P3....ngl the first act until Aigis show’s up is.....so....slow.....and boring....and no one is really likeable imo. I hated Yukari, I hated Junpei. Mitsuru seemed interesting but she wouldn’t hang out. Akihiko....didn’t really care for him, but I couldn’t  hang out with him. I couldn’t hang out with Yukari or Junpei if I wanted to (Yukari won’t hang out till around Aigis joins anyway, I remember from my last playthrough we tried, it was an NG+ and she snubbed us). Kenji is a moron (don’t hate him, feel bad for him, but god so boring), Kaz is a moron, didn’t do Yuko the first time (should’ve I did like her, hate I only got the first rank the first time I ever played through P3), I didn’t like Chihiro (she started off fine but was kinda creepy later on), can’t hang with Fuuka unless you have maxed courage cause eff me (not like I can ever remember her gd link anyways that’s how forgettable it is, I don’t even like Yukari but at least I remember her’s). Basically......the SL sucked balls. Major balls (I liked Maiko, the Star dude, the old couple, the Hermit, and the Devil......I guess the Tower too he was ok, and....that’s it....for outside teammate links aka Aigis and Mitsuru). Silly was not a happy camper when she popped P3 in after having fun with P4 (and esp after being told P3 was a GAZZILLION TIMES BETTER!!!!1!), tbh I took like a 4 month break from P3 and replayed P4 before I picked P3 back up (after Aigis showed up I def enjoyed it a heck of a lot more after that). Now, P3′s plot is really good and very solid, it’s P3′s strong point. My issue is that.....everything P3 does is for the sake of the plot. It does it well, don’t get me wrong, but everything about the characters is only happening cause “plot demands it.” They never felt super fleshed out, and it’s probably why they feel a little odd (maybe even flat-ish) in the spinoff games (even more so than the P4 team), cause the spinoff games aren’t relying on their (P3′s) plot. I also don’t buy a lot of their friendships (esp the males teammates with the Male MC), Yukari and Mitsuru’s is....ok (I don’t like how the game makes it feel like “oh you have a dead dad? me too! let’s be friends” as a thing, I know she’s just trying to relate and sympathize but.....I’ve seen that as a complaint come up by a lot of people, for someone so popular Yukari isn’t much of a people person in this regard, from how the game frames it that is). Also the fact you can’t friend girls. There’s not a lot of bonding moments in the game, there’s more than P5, but I still don’t feel as close to the team as I should even by the end. And gawd, Ryoji? Wut I’m friends with him now? How? When? I like the guy but I don’t think he likes me. You’d think he’d want to hang out with me cause.....PHAROS! ;W;

There’s more but I don’t want to leave you hanging, but anyway it’s just....I have a lot of issues with how the characters are handled. They’re good characters, I wish there just....more to them. But the thing is.....THIS IS AN EASY FIX! You’ve probably heard me say about the P5 manga/anime “a change in medium can do wonders” or something like that. That’s cause I have P3 to look at. The manga and movies do wonders for P3 my problems with P3. There’s more bonding, character relationships are improved yadda yadda. Yes there are issues within the manga and movies themselves...... but they do a lot of good things too. One of the things the movies did was actually......influenced by it’s P3P remake (aka establish a relationship with Ryoji, yay!). Oh man, P3P/the FeMC fixed sooooooooooooo many problems (it also added some even more awesome duality to a game that already had a lot of duality going on with it), I can talk to Yukari and Junpei from the get go (and they treat me different, and more pleasantly than when I played as the dude), I can actually hang out with the guys (and I DON’T automatically have to date them, in fact I have to work to date them, every single one), the stats for character requirements are laid out more fairly like in P4 so by the time someone is available I can probably talk to them (without having to kill myself trying to manage my social stats).But man, the first act just flows so much better when you’re able to bond with your teammates (also Rio and Saori are great SLs!). Even tho they don’t change the female SLs pretty much at all (making it veeeery gay XD), it does feel like it is at least a friendship by the end (even tho I’m literally dating everyone and you can’t tell me otherwise! 8U). I also love her personality comes across more clearing (and varied) than the males, there’s a more clear progression of her psyche than her male counterpart (it’s still there, just not as obvious, and I love how they’re inverted to each other~! :D). It’s just, with P3, the really minor changes go a LOOOOOOOOOOONG way. The only thing I would change with P3 is the minor stuff. Just add more scenes (that don’t take up time) to the game, on both sides. Gameplay wise add more SLs, alternative SLs even. Heck, if they remade the game, I think being able to go to new places would be cool (and it’d be where you’d meet your new SLs) cause man you’re in a city, you deserve to do more stuff! It’s just the little things man, the little things can make a big impact! It says something that probably my fav Persona fanfic and fav Strain42 Persona parody comicis the P3(P) ones, even tho P4 is my fav game. You change a few things around, even the medium, and it makes a difference. 

Ok onto P4. Now P4 is the opposite of P3, with P4 it’s strong point is it’s characters. The characters drive P4. P4 is character based, P3 is plot based. P4 the plot takes a back seat. This is fine, it works in P4′s favor, like how the plot worked in P3′s favor. P4′s plot is ok, it does a great job with supporting the characters. Sadly I understand if you wanted more murder mystery (or just mystery) in a murder mystery game. And in P4′s defense, again, it had a barebones budget and not a lot of time and the company was doing pretty bad and P4 still came out pretty great (was the most popular before P5 came out, lord knows if it may even come out on top again if it gets an updated graphics/gameplay remake). And it’s also really hard to keep a murder mystery going for about 70-100ish hours (and only finally solving it in the last 1/5 of the game). Also P4, like P3 (forgot to mention that above), sticks to it’s theme really well. Even making it solving it/obtaining the good ending routes semi-difficult. Sure you can deduce Adachi, but tbh it’s also difficult. They do a pretty decent job building the guy up as a friend (even more so in P4G due to the SL). Izanami is also well hidden. The game makes you work and it rewards you.

Now if I were to change stuff.....it’d range from minor to major depending on what we’re talking about. Minor would be adding more scenes of Naoto bonding (she needs it cause the late game doesn’t do her justice), and like I mentioned above, I think have a deduction off would be interesting (Naoto’s SL was one of my favs cause of how we solved a gd mystery, god I’m so mad that never made it into the anime, even as an ova, it could’ve been a great team-building filler one too). Another thing I’d add would maybe be.....something similar to quests, but instead you have to solve a mystery (which means talking to people, and investigating areas), it can range from finding a cat in a tree or finding a bully or whatever. Just something minor that can give the mystery lovers something fun to do. I’d also have Izanami/gas station attendant be an SL (she originally was the Empress before giving that to Margret). Oh I’d also like to take Margret out on “dates” (c’mon gimme dem fun shenanigans).  And.....now this can be minor or major (depending on what they do, but it’s probably more major), add another red herring. I don’t care how.....but....it would help draw attention away from Adachi. Maybe they’re added from some of the mini mysteries you solved, maybe they squeeze an extra dungeon into the game some how-some way (doubt it for the later, that’d be a major change), but another red herring would be good. 

For a Major change it’d be restructuring the plot a looooooot, adding more dungeons for more red herrings. I would actually make Dojima a red herring. He originally was suppose to be the killer (but they thought that was too dark, understandable), with Adachi as the red herring instead. Other than that I’m not exactly sure how they’d overhaul that. I mean, if they made a P4 game based off of P3P’s route (aka different route/game, different killer), I’d like to see their prototype stuff play out. Short-haired ice queen Yukiko, delinquent/bully Rise, Pretty boy Naoto (actual boy this time, also make him dateable.....what? I like Naoto 8U), 1st year MC, Female Teddie, Adult(?) Kanji, Dojima as the killer, Adachi as the red herring (Chie and Yosuke are actually pretty much the same). I’d really like to see that. 

But tbh, I don’t really know where to start in giving P4 a major overhaul (except to go with the prototype set up), possibly cause it’d mean introducing/creating new characters. But P5? I do, oh man I know where I would start (P5 is where I’d make my major changes left and right, no minor changes here...except maybe dungeon 1), I’d make soooooo many changes to P5. But that’s for another time (not now, it’d take too long). 8U

[postgamecontent]

Fire Emblem Chronicles Vol. 1: Fire Emblem: Thracia 776

Original Release Date: September 1, 1999

Original Hardware: Nintendo Super Famicom

Although Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War wasn't quite the success that Mystery of the Emblem had been, it did well enough to keep the series going. With the Nintendo 64 releasing only a few months after the release of Genealogy, it was logical for the next installment to go there. Indeed, work was started on Fire Emblem 64, first mentioned in the summer of 1997 and officially announced in September of that year. While fans were waiting for that one, Shouzou Kaga decided to get a few stories out of his system via the BS-X Satellaview add-on for the Super Famicom. BS Fire Emblem: Archanea War Chronicles was a series of four mini-episodes set in Marth's corner of the world that fleshed out some of the side characters. Like other Satellaview titles, these episodes were broadcasted at specific times and dates, and if you didn't tune in, you missed out on them forever. An odd bit of technology, and not the last time Fire Emblem would flirt with Nintendo's odder delivery methods.

It was believed that Fire Emblem 64 was going to be released on the Nintendo 64DD, the ill-fated Nintendo 64 disk drive that only saw release in Japan. That hardware add-on was released in December of 1999 and fared quite poorly in the market. To be fair, selling an expansion to a system that wasn't exactly flying off the shelves itself was probably never going to work out all that well. The 64DD only saw 10 games completed and released in the year or so it was available. It's hard to say if the 64DD's poor market performance caused problems for Fire Emblem 64, but it probably didn't help. Even before it was released, however, there were signs the game was in trouble. In January of 1999, Kaga stated that the game he was planning was too ambitious for the Nintendo 64 hardware. While the team figured out what to do with that situation, the Super Famicom Fire Emblem engine would get one last kick at the can. The Nintendo 64 game would never see release, but that final Super Famicom game would end up one of the most well-regarded games of the series, albeit one of the worst-selling.

There are lots of potential reasons why Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 didn't pull in the sales numbers of its predecessors. To start with, this was a Super Famicom game that released in late 1999. The SEGA Dreamcast was nearly a year old in Japan by then, and the PlayStation 2 was only a handful of months away. Asking players to dig out a system that was nearly two generations old to play a new game was probably a little much to ask, even assuming they had hung onto their old hardware. If that wasn't enough, the game wasn't even initially available as a packaged release. Instead, players had to buy a rewritable cartridge to use with a kiosk distribution system called Nintendo Power. You would bring this cartridge to a participating retailer, pay a fee, and download the game onto your cartridge. If you wanted a new game, you could overwrite the old one. Suffice it to say, this was a niche within a niche.

By the standards of the Nintendo Power system, Thracia 776 was a big success. The game fared so well that Nintendo gave it a full boxed release in January of 2000. That version would end up selling just over 100,000 copies, making it the lowest-selling installment in the Fire Emblem series. That shouldn't be taken as an indictment of its quality, mind you. While this was Shouzou Kaga's final Fire Emblem game, he didn't do a half-job on it by any means. It rolls back a few things from Genealogy, adds a bunch of new features, and tells an interesting story along the way. But it is perhaps guilty of focusing on the hardcore fanbase to a fault, resulting in a game that is probably a little too involved and strict for the average player. At least as far as I'm concerned, Thracia 776 is the most difficult Fire Emblem game on default difficulty. That difficulty is attractive to some fans, but if you came to the series through the recent 3DS games, you'll probably get bounced like a pinball.

Thracia 776 wasn't originally intended to be a full-length title. Its story follows Leif, one of the characters from Genealogy, giving more information on his history and motivations prior to joining the plot of that game. Kaga had felt like he had focused too much on the story in Genealogy at the expense of the gameplay, so Thracia was meant to be a tighter design with a greater emphasis on the gameplay mechanics. The game certainly feels smaller than Genealogy, but the template it established would be used for years to come. Some mechanics introduced in Thracia still persist in the series, and its refinements on mechanics from earlier titles would prove quite durable. In that regard, I would say that Thracia is probably more influential to the series on the whole than its predecessor, a handy feat for a side-story that barely cracked six digits in sales.

The large stages from Genealogy are gone in favor of a more traditional selection of smaller stages. Each map has only one main goal, and the romance/multi-generation mechanic has been cut. The skill system has been retained, but the skills that enable critical hits and double attacks have been removed in favor of a more traditional stat-based system. Mounted units can dismount like they could in Mystery of the Emblem, so your riders will have to go on foot indoors once again. Weapon proficiency finally reaches its familiar form here, with each unit starting with set ranks that determines which weapons they're able to equip. Those ranks can be increased through use of the weapon in question, giving the player a little bit of agency in how their units develop. Inventory management works similarly to the pre-Genealogy games, addressing my biggest problem with the previous game.

This is the Fire Emblem game that finally implements a Fog of War system. In certain stages you can't see very far without using a torch item, making for some terribly unpleasant surprises. When combined with the permadeath mechanic, it's almost a little too cruel, which might explain why the idea was largely discarded in subsequent games. Thracia 776 is also the first game in the series with optional stages that open up under certain conditions, known alternatively in English as Gaiden stages or Paralogues depending on which game you're playing. Due to the way these stages work, it's impossible to recruit every character on any given playthrough. You'll have to make some hard choices along the way.

The game also introduces some new stats and a few mechanics that draw from them. The fatigue system is yet another attempt to make players make full use of their roster. As characters take actions, their fatigue stat will build. When it exceeds their HP, they'll have to sit out a stage to recover. This mechanic was not seen again until the recently-released Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. It's not a bad idea in a vacuum, but Thracia often has you relying on a small group of units, making it difficult at times to avoid over-exerting characters. The newly-introduced constitution stat governs a few different things, but the most obvious are in the two new actions available to players. Units are now able to rescue other units provided their constitution is high enough, giving you the chance to yank them out of harm's way. Rescuing would be a regular part of the series going forward.

Similarly, units can capture enemy units, robbing them of their weapons and, in some specific cases, recruiting them to the player's cause. If you've played Fire Emblem Fates, you've probably messed around with the similar mechanic that appears there. In Thracia, any unit can attempt a capture. You can't bring generic units to your side, but certain named units will join if you're able to capture them. The trick is that enemies are able to capture your units if you give them the opportunity. If you are unable to recover the unit before the enemy slips away, you'll lose that unit until late in the game, where a Gaiden chapter offers a final chance to rescue them. Mind your mages and healers, as they're highly vulnerable to this.

While the capture mechanic could conceivably be ignored in Fire Emblem Fates, it's absolutely essential to take advantage of it in Thracia 776. The story puts your team on the move right from the start. Generally speaking, you won't have access to many resources unless you loot them from the enemies. If you don't capture enemy units, you'll likely run out of weapons by the fourth or fifth stage. Neglecting capturing is one of the things that makes Thracia so hard for newcomers. You have to fully embrace it and constantly be on guard about enemy capturing if you don't want to end up ridiculously short-handed and low on weapons. Once you get the hang of the capture and rescue mechanics, Thracia gets a little bit easier to manage.

Only a little, mind you. You still have to contend with the challenging map designs, the difficulty of certain stage goals, and the fact that Leif isn't terribly strong as Fire Emblem lords go. Certain maps require you to escape the map to win. This goal has been seen in other Fire Emblem games, but Thracia has one key difference. Once Leif leaves the map, the stage is finished, and any other units who did not escape ahead of him will be considered captured. You have to leave Leif out until everyone else is clear, and he's not the most robust of fellows. Thracia also makes use of frequent, endless reinforcements during these escape stages. A careful, well-prepared player can use these levels to build up some experience, but it's certainly a level of pressure that few other Fire Emblem games match.

There are other little details that add to the difficulty as well. Healing staves can actually miss their targets. There are random warp tiles in some stages in unexpected locations. A mechanic that randomly allows a unit to take an extra turn is certainly welcome when it happens to the player but devastating when it happens to an enemy unit, and you can probably guess which of the two sides it tends to advantage. This game loves enemy ballista units and it cannot lie. Throne bonuses are obscene, making it harder than it should be to dislodge bosses. There are status ailments that are permanent if you don't have a means of restoring them, which can actually make particular maps unwinnable if your luck is poor. Certain crucial recruits are nearly impossible to pick up without knowing what to do beforehand, adding yet another hurdle for first-time players to overcome. It's really easy in general to paint yourself into a corner with no escape in Thracia 776, and that's a quality that is going to irritate as many people as it pleases. 

It all adds up to a game that will delightfully roast veterans but isn't very fun for anyone else. As with Genealogy, I believe Thracia 776 is only a few tweaks away from vastly widening its appeal, and hopefully it will get a chance to do that in a remake one day. In its original form, it's exercise best left to the hardcore strategists out there. It's a bit better on a replay than on the initial run, but if I never see stage 24x of Thracia again in my life, it will be too soon. Still, you've got to hand it to Kaga. He may have been on his way out the door, but he left the team a pretty good blueprint to follow while they found their own footing.

It's interesting that Kaga made a point of putting the gameplay ahead of the story here, because I think Thracia's story is one of the best in the series. Given that it's tucked in the middle of the two parts of Genealogy, the plot of Thracia by necessity has to be smaller and more personal than most Fire Emblem games. Leif might be weak in gameplay terms, but in his story, he's forced to be stronger than just about any other Fire Emblem lord. The development team did a nice job of weaving the story into the map designs, as well. Fire Emblem usually likes to tell its stories off of the battlefield, but some of the stages in Thracia nicely tie-in with the on-going plot. It's a story worth experiencing, even if you have to do it through a Let's Play due to the ridiculous difficulty level.

Like all of Kaga's Fire Emblem games, Thracia 776 has never received an official English release. The game is readily available on the Japanese Virtual Console for Wii, Wii U, and 3DS, which is a nice alternative to paying the relatively high price for one of the scarce cartridges. I think Thracia would make a nice candidate for a remake, but it's hard to say whether or not Nintendo will get around to it and in what form they would pursue it if they did do it. It's meant to be enjoyed alongside Genealogy, so I'd assume that if that game gets a remake, this one would, too. There are some incomplete English patches out there made by fans if you don't feel like waiting around. I can't speak to their quality, but if you can't read Japanese, it's probably the best you're going to get.

After wrapping up Fire Emblem: Thracia 776, Shouzou Kaga would leave Intelligent Systems and Nintendo behind to start his own development studio. That studio produced two games, one of which was close enough to Fire Emblem to attract a lawsuit. The other was different enough to avoid such measures. After that, he stayed out of the public eye until a few years ago, when he announced he was making a new SRPG for PCs using an RPG Maker-like tool built for SRPGs. He has never explained why he left Intelligent Systems, as far as I could find. It doesn't seem like it was a particularly amicable split given what he got up to after that. Fire Emblem would go on without him, of course. Although the Nintendo 64 version was canceled, many of its ideas ended up in the Game Boy Advance title Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade. But that game, and its successors, are a story for another time.

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